One day after The New York Times named Joe Kahn as successor to Dean Baquet as executive editor, Kahn announced his leadership team, which includes two editors who also were likely considered as potential replacements for Baquet.
Marc Lacey and Carolyn Ryan will serve as managing editors, the No. 2 role in the newsroom, starting on June 14.
Lacey, 56, is currently the assistant managing editor, while Ryan, 57, is a deputy managing editor. As The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum noted, Ryan oversaw “the hiring of more than 400 journalists, and she helped lead its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Before that, she was the paper’s political editor, Washington bureau chief and metropolitan editor.”
In a memo to staff, Kahn wrote, “Both will share with me responsibility for overseeing the breadth of our coverage and news operation … (as well as) advancing major priorities like independence and trust, digital excellence and cultural transformation.”
Kahn also announced four deputy managing editors. Rebecca Blumenstein will lead recruitment and operations. Sam Dolnick will be in charge of the Times’ audio, video, email newsletters and televised documentaries. Steve Duenes and Clifford Levy will remain deputy managing editors, with Duenes running visual and multimedia journalism and Levy leading ethics and training for editors.
Grynbaum wrote, “Matthew Purdy, currently a deputy managing editor and a force behind many of The Times’s major investigative projects, will take on a senior, as-yet-undefined role.”
Meanwhile, the industry is still buzzing over the news that Kahn will take over for Baquet.
Writing for Politico, John F. Harris wrote, “How in this entrepreneurial age — a moment of radical disruption in the news business — did the Times settle on such a profoundly traditional choice?”
Then again, Harris went on to write, “Nearly every modern newsroom — the Times and Post emphatically among them — have been buffeted in recent years by ideological and cultural fissures. Usually, this turmoil has had a generational dimension, pitting older traditionalists against younger employees who believe the profession’s old conventions about objectivity and neutrality are an obstacle to illuminating the true moral stakes on questions of racial or sexual equality. Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, who selected Kahn, likely is hoping that a leader with a low-key temperament can tamp down conflict.”
Meanwhile, if you want to know more about Kahn, New York magazine’s Shawn McCreesh has this in-depth profile: “Meet Joe Kahn, the Enigma Who Will Run The New York Times.”
Netflix woes
During its earnings call Tuesday, Netflix shockingly reported that it had lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 — the first time it has shed viewers in a decade. This after it thought it was going to add 2 million subscribers. It gets worse. Netflix expects to lose another 2 million in the second quarter and Netflix shares dropped 35% Wednesday morning.
As CNN’s Frank Pallotta wrote, “Simply put, Netflix's terrible 2022 has now become disastrous.”
Netflix still has 221.6 million subscribers around the world, but the earnings call revealed a troubling trend.
There are various theories as to what happened. Such as people sharing their Netflix passwords with family and friends and the economy forcing some to trim their personal budgets. In addition, by pulling out of Russia because of Russia's war with Ukraine, Netflix lost 700,000 subscribers.
Still, even with all that, to lose 200,000 subscribers when you expected to gain 2 million is a cause for concern.
Recode’s Peter Kafka wrote, “Netflix has spent the past decade leading the world in streaming. Now everyone is catching up.”
Kafka went on to write, “Netflix spent years telling investors that the fact that Disney, Hulu, HBO, Paramount, Peacock, Apple, Amazon, and many more competitors were following in its footsteps — and, crucially, taking stuff that used to run on Netflix and running it on their own services — was fine. Now, the company says, it turns out that people are watching some of those other streaming services, too.”
So is there anything Netflix can do to reverse — or at least slow — this trend?
One of the appealing things about Netflix for its customers is that there are no commercials. But Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in a post-earnings call on Tuesday that Netflix might consider a lower-priced subscription package that would include some advertising.
Kafka wrote, “The best-case scenario is this one: Even with this quarter’s loss and next quarter’s loss, it will have 219 million subscribers — way more than any of its competitors. And Netflix is no longer burning a gazillion dollars a year and asking Wall Street to lend it more, so it won’t have problems financing new shows and movies to show its remaining customers. But if it wants to find new subscribers — and keep the ones it has — it will have to find shows they really, really like. And that is going to be harder than ever.”
On assignment in Ukraine
