New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet used to get so furious at his higher-ups — Jill Abramson among them — that he punched holes in the newsroom walls.
“It’s true,” he said in his first major interview since he replaced Abramson in the top job. “I should have a lawyer present with me for this, shouldn’t I?”
When asked about maps that were strategically placed to hide the damage in the Washington bureau, Baquet admitted to NPR’s David Folkenflik that he has a “temper.”
“In each case, I was mad at somebody above me in rank,” he said in the interview made public Friday. “It’s not an excuse, but it is a fact.”
Abramson was one of only a handful of editors above Baquet when he was in Washington, but he did not pin the wall-punching episodes specifically on her.
(In an interesting coincidence, Abramson was photographed taking her aggressions out on a punching bag the day after her dismissal.)
Baquet acknowledged that there was “significant disagreement” with his predecessor over her plan to bring in a co-managing editor as his equal and that this frustration contributed to Abramson’s firing earlier this month.
At the same time, Baquet insisted that he never gave Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. an ultimatum that it was either him or her.
“Obviously, there was a significant disagreement between Jill and the publisher and Jill and me,” Baquet said.
“I never said to anyone it’s me or Jill. I think that is a simplistic calculation,” he added. “I don’t think there is any question that I made it known I was a little unhappy.”
Baquet also told NPR that his rise to the top job was proceeded by a “period of turmoil” at the paper, suggesting there was plenty of friction between Abramson and the rest of the newsroom.
“One of my first jobs is to ensure that the turmoil which was inevitable doesn’t get in the way of what the New York Times does best,” he said.
According to reports, Abramson told Sulzberger that Baquet was on board with her efforts to recruit Janine Gibson, the editor of The Guardian’s US operations, as another managing editor, in charge of digital.
Apparently, that wasn’t quite accurate. While Baquet was aware that the Times was wooing Gibson, the first he heard that she would be on equal footing was at a lunch with Gibson earlier this month.
A few days later at a dinner with Sulzberger, he voiced his displeasure. Abramson was already at odds with Sulzberger and the blow-up over Gibson further eroded her standing. Sulzberger told a stunned newsroom May 14 that Abramson was out and Baquet was replacing her.
Abramson had also claimed she was making less than some male editors and had hired a lawyer to address the situation with Sulzberger.
The pay issue seemed to partially support the premise that there was a discrepancy. But the Times insisted there was no gender bias and that she was actually making more in her final year at the
Times than her predecessor.
“I do not believe Jill was fired over gender,” Baquet told NPR.
Reached via cellphone, Abramson said, “I don’t have any comment. I haven’t been commenting to any reporters. I respect that you are doing your job. Bye, bye.”