With the sudden departure of Jill Abramson as the top editor of the New York Times, America's paper of record will now be run by an African American, Dean Baquet, for the first time in its history.
Baquet, a former editor of the Los Angeles Times and a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, will succeed Abramson who has served as executive editor since 2011.
“It is an honor to be asked to lead the only newsroom in the country that is actually better than it was a generation ago, one that approaches the world with wonder and ambition every day,” Baquet told his paper.
“There is no journalist in our newsroom or elsewhere better qualified to take on the responsibilities of executive editor at this time than Dean Baquet,” publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr said.
Amid all of the speculation about Abramson, many celebrated the milestone:
162-year-old paper. This is a big deal. RT @aaronmedwards Dean Baquet just became the first black executive editor of The New York Times.
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) May 14, 2014
In 2001, when Boyd became NYT's first black managing editor, he said this (a quote I've got hanging at my desk): pic.twitter.com/4gC5UVPiS2
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) May 14, 2014