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Nytimes tensions shakeups Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/157/nation/After_weeks_of_tensions_move_rocks_Manhattan_newsroom+.shtmlhttp://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/157/nation/After_weeks_of_tensions_move_rocks_Manhattan_newsroom+.shtml
After weeks of tensions, move rocks Manhattan newsroom
By Suzanne C. Ryan and Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff, 6/6/2003
Employees at the New York Times expressed a range of emotions yesterday - from sadness to shock to relief - over the resignations of executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald M. Boyd following more than a month of turmoil in the Times newsroom, an internal assessment of the paper's leadership, and national scrutiny.
After relentless publicity nationwide regarding the Jayson Blair fabrication scandal, Raines, Boyd, and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. announced the news yesterday morning at a packed staff meeting that some described as funereal. Many people wept at the announcement, and even Sulzberger appeared to dab his eyes, said one staffer who attended the meeting.
There had been ''sharp disagreement'' among Times staffers about whether Blair's malfeasance should cost Raines and Boyd, his close deputy, their jobs, said Glenn Kramon, the Times business editor.
''Some people were upset because they thought things had gone too far and this didn't need to happen,'' he said. ''Others said these resignations are the only way we can get past this terrible series of events.''
As word of the resignations spread yesterday, the scene outside the Times headquarters in Manhattan turned surreal. Reporters, photographers, and cameramen from other news organizations were crowded behind police barricades, straining for interviews with Times staffers who darted in and out of the building. Many of the reporters on one side of the barricades knew colleagues on the other.
Jerry Gray, weekend national editor designate for the Times, applauded Raines and Boyd for a ''courageous'' decision. ''It speaks to the loyalty and love of this institution that they would willingly walk away from these jobs,'' he said.
Ethan Bronner, assistant editorial page editor, said, ''I have a sense that it had to happen. The newsroom was becoming sufficiently poisonous.''
After the Blair scandal, in which the young reporter resigned amid accusations of repeated plagiarism and fabrication, the Times had created several committees to assess what happened and how it could have been prevented - and to examine Raines's leadership of the newsroom. Though the review has not been completed, the initial findings on Raines weren't good; his brusque management style, in particular, became a point of contention among staffers.
As a result, Bronner said, it was increasingly difficult for Raines and Boyd to maintain their authority. ''Howell's skills as a leader come from him being very commanding ... He is a forceful person and probably the force is both his strength and weakness. ''
As the internal assessment continued, Bronner said, Raines was ''obliged'' by the early findings to tone down his leadership style in recent weeks, to mixed results. ''It became clear that the staff was unhappy with Howell's leadership. He vowed to be more sharing in his authority. It was not how Howell leads.''
In a move some staffers greeted with skepticism, Joseph Lelyveld, who retired in 2001 as executive editor of the Times, was named interim executive editor. Some believe the only way to move beyond the scandal is with fresh leadership from outside the organization.
''I don't know anybody who doesn't think cronyism is a problem at the Times,'' said one editor who requested anonymity. ''Lelyveld represents more of the same.''
Associate editor John Darnton disagreed, describing Lelyveld as a ''calm hand on the tiller'' at a time when the newsroom is in an uproar. ''Joe is a known quantity. He has a reputation for evenhandedness and good newspapering decisions.''
One apparently universal feeling among staffers is a hope that the newspaper can finally move on from the crisis.
''It's been a very volatile period. We've spent too much time thinking about ourselves,'' said Deborah Sontag, a staff writer for the Times Sunday Magazine. ''It's going to be a tremendous relief for people to be able to concentrate on their work again.''
Suzanne C. Ryan can be reached at sryan@globe.com and Tatsha Robertson can be reached at t-robertson@globe.com.
This story ran on page A28 of the Boston Globe on 6/6/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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