Sam Sifton will leave his job as the national editor of the New York Times, Jill Abramson said on Friday.
She announced this change, along with a string of others, in a memo to staff. Sifton — who Abramson appointed to the position when she took over as executive editor — will leave his job to "create an immersive digital magazine experience" for the newspaper, and Alison Mitchell will ascend to the post. "National Editor is the job she was born to do," Abramson wrote.
She described what Sifton has been tasked with lea as "a lean back read that will include new, multimedia narratives in the tradition of Snow Fall... as well as some of the best reads published during the previous week." Snow Fall, an interactive package, garnered praise for the newspaper last year.
Among the other changes she announced is Arthur Gregg Sulzberger leaving the metro desk to be "the editor in charge of a new ideas task force." Below, read the full text of Abramson's memo:
Dear Colleagues,
As part of my strategic push to have the newsroom take a leading role in developing new ways to present our journalism in digital forms and to create new products, I have made various changes in the structure and leadership of the newsroom. My goal has been to find the best digital talent in the newsroom and appoint people to very senior editing roles that report directly to Dean and me.
Before I get specific, it’s worth noting that we are by far the most read newspaper Web site, thanks to all of your heroic work and innovation. At a time when mobile traffic is nearing half our visits, we are reaching a much broader array of readers. Many recent moves, including the new ones I am announcing today, help solidify and expand our achievements.
First, by way of background, I promoted Tom Bodkin to deputy managing editor and he has also assumed the important role as the company’s design director (a joint report to me and Mark Thompson), insuring that his brilliant journalistic sensibility infuses all of our news products. I also asked Larry Ingrassia and Ian Fisher to become assistant managing editors and to focus on and lead our main digital priorities. Next, I asked Aron Pilhofer and Steve Duenes to become associate managing editors to help invent the best possible interactive experiences and dazzling presentations of our digital journalism. Meanwhile, Rebecca Howard has already energized our burgeoning video efforts and will soon be adding key members to her team.
The push continues. Sam Sifton has agreed to leave his post as national editor, where he has so expertly guided our coverage of immense national upheaval to become a senior editor and the creative mind in charge of two new ventures. In all of his editing roles, as well as in his writing, Sam has been an inventive and inspiring creator of the best digital journalism. (As culture editor, he was, among desk heads, one of our most forward thinking Web-first journalists).
His first assignment is to create an immersive digital magazine experience, a lean back read that will include new, multimedia narratives in the tradition of Snow Fall and last weekend’s compelling account of the Arizona fire, as well as some of the best reads published during the previous week. As the new Need to Know project is aimed for quick and periodic dips into the news, the new digital magazine would be a need to read. (This is a different product from the Sunday magazine, where Hugo Lindgren has been unendingly creative in digital presentations and he will surely be a counselor to Sam).The second assignment puts Sam’s incredible depth as a food editor and food writer to use in creating a new dining news product, separate from our current dining report and section led so expertly by Susan Edgerley, who has already drawn up some very exciting ideas for expanding our dining coverage and will surely be an invaluable partner on this project.
Meanwhile, the development of Need to Know is far enough along that what this project most needs to launch is a brilliant editor to sculpt its content. I have asked Cliff Levy to take a leave of absence from his post as deputy Metro editor to accomplish this. Having just invented the hugely popular New York Today for mobile users, Cliff has the perfect gifts to make N2K absolutely stellar.
Arthur Gregg Sulzberger will also take a leave from metro to be the editor in charge of a new ideas task force, which will function as the newsroom’s version of a skunk-works team, a creative team that will think up and propose new ways to expand our news offerings digitally. He, too, has displayed impressive creative inventiveness and leadership as a national correspondent and as a Metro reporter and editor.
Sam, Cliff and Arthur will have the needed resources to build teams for creating compelling news content for these initiatives. Besides reporting to Dean and me, they will all work closely with David Perpich and other business side colleagues. All three have proven skills at producing the best journalism, leading teams and working collegially with Times colleagues.
We will make sure not to leave either National or Metro bereft. Alison Mitchell, after a fabulous run as Weekend editor, (and in olden times created a splendid Education report and directed the Washington bureau’s congressional coverage) will take over the leadership of the national desk as National Editor, where she also had a stellar run as deputy. National Editor is the job she was born to do.
More to come.
Fondly, Jill
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