(FreedomBeacon.com)- The New York Times has named its next chief editor, putting a stop to all of the idle chatter.
Joe Kahn, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, and longstanding Beijing bureau chief who was appointed to managing editor of the paper in 2016, will take over as executive editor from Dean Baquet, who will remain as executive editor.
Publisher A.G. Sulzberger revealed Kahn’s appointment as the next editor of the New York Times in a memo to the newspaper’s staff.
After all, the appointment was widely anticipated: The New York Times has a mandated retirement age of 65 for senior editors (Baquet will turn 66 this September). In recent months, the rumor mill had all but confirmed Kahn as Baquet’s successor.
The succession brings to a close Baquet’s exceptional eight-year tenure as publisher of the New York Times, which he inherited amid a moment of instability. He leaves with a thriving media empire in his wake.
In a letter to the staff, Sulzberger wrote that in the last eight years, Dean brilliantly guided The Times through an unbelievably challenging and consequential period, guiding their transformation into a genuinely digital newsroom. He confronted the escalating pressures of independent journalism and kept pace with a historic flood of big news stories.
The coverage of the #MeToo movement, the popularity of The Daily podcast, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project” were all successful undertakings during Baquet’s tenure at the paper.
Sulzberger said it is impossible to envision a leader who could have steered our newsroom with such fearlessness — and at the same time, with such grace and warmth.
Baquet will not be retiring. Sulzberger stated that he will continue at The Times to oversee an intriguing new initiative, about which he will disclose more information in the coming weeks.
Sulzberger is the chairman and CEO of the newspaper.
In February, it was reported that Kahn could be replaced as managing editor by a triumvirate of Times veterans who would share the responsibilities of managing editor: Deputy Managing Editor Carolyn Ryan, Assistant Managing Editor Marc Lacey, and Deputy Managing Editor Cliff Levy, all of whom are Times veterans.
