New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet confirmed Tuesday that his newspaper is embarking on a hiring spree only a few weeks after 100 reporters either took buyouts or were laid off.
“We will fix the things the buyouts broke. We will look internally to fill important jobs. We will carefully and judiciously make a few outside hires,” Baquet wrote in a memo to the staff made public Tuesday by Margaret Sullivan, the Times’ public editor.
He admitted that “it seems incongruous to hire after reducing the staff. But if we stop bringing in new talent, we run the risk of missing a generation of future stars.”
During the layoffs and buyouts throughout 2014, scores of longtime reporters at the paper were cut from the payroll.
“Don’t allow the turmoil in the news business [to] make you forget just how good we are, and that we are here to break big stories and ask hard questions of the powerful. Our coverage remains fabulous — and our goals for the coming year are very clear,” he said.
“We will soon begin rebuilding our media team,” Baquet continued. “The culture and sports reports will continue to get new faces and energy. And building a powerhouse political team also is among our main coverage goals for the year.”
The Times’ layoffs are part of a continuing trend in the news industry being rocked by editorial and business disruptions throughout the digital media landscape.
Bacquet said in the memo that he hopes the Times will lead the news industry forward. “Once again, the newsroom is being called on to take a leading role in securing our future,” he wrote.
He also maintained that the Times is “a highly profitable institution.” The paper’s profit did, however, fall dramatically in 2014.
