Jill Abramson (center) will be the first female executive editor at the New York Times following Bill Keller’s (right) decision to step down this summer after a tumultuous 2003 – 2011 run. Former Los Angeles Times editor, Dean Baquet, will be her No. 2. (AP)
The New York Times has often been called the Gray Lady, but for the first time in its 160-year history, it will have a woman in charge.
Jill Abramson, the 57-year-old managing editor, will become executive editor on Sept. 6, succeeding Bill Keller, who is stepping down from the top newsroom job after eight years in the post.
A New York City native, Abramson spent time at The American Lawyer and the Wall Street Journal before joining the Times in 1997.
While she has filled varied roles as a reporter and editor, critics point to her lack of foreign news experience — once considered vital to being considered for the paper’s top spot.
One critic, William McGowan, author of “Gray Lady Down,” says Abramson “is totally riding the diversity wagon . . . I’m sure she’s a great journalist, but she hasn’t had her ticket punched in the foreign bureaus, which was the traditional route to the top.”
McGowan said Abramson’s lighthearted 2009 column, “The Puppy Diaries,” displayed a certain lack of gravitas. “Is the author of the ‘Puppy Diaries’ really the person we want to lead what is still one of the most influential news organizations in the country?” he asked.
Still, most observers say it will be the digital frontier where Abramson will be most strongly judged.
“The big agenda item is to try to create a revenue-generating site to offset the continuing decline in print,” said one source close to the situation. “If they fail a second time at a pay strategy, it’s bad. It’s a big problem.”
Some noted that publisher Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr. positioned the choice of editors so it came down to Abramson or Dean Baquet, 54, former Los Angeles Times top editor and current head of the Times’ influential Washington bureau, who is African American.
Baquet moves into Abramson’s former job as managing editor.
Keller, 62, came to power in the wake of the Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal in 2003, which forced Howell Raines from the top spot. While Keller’s tenure was roughly the same as Max Frankel’s, who retired in 1994 after eight years in the post, and Joseph Lelyveld’s, who stepped down in 2001 after seven years, it did catch some by surprise since he could have stayed on a few more years until his mandatory retirement age of 65.
Abramson’s appointment yesterday “came as a surprise, but not a shock,” said Alex S. Jones, a former Times hand and co-author of “The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family behind the New York Times.”
Keller, who came to the paper in 1984, presided as the paper skidded through the Great Recession — with ad revenue declining noticeably and daily print circulation dropping a total of 27 percent, to 816,390. With digital subscriptions, circulation totaled 916,911 as of March 31.
The controversy surrounding Judith Miller’s coverage of Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction” and the Wikileaks document dump controversy also happened on his watch.