• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 19, 2022

The New York Times this morning named Joseph Kahn executive editor, the highest-ranking role in its newsroom.

Kahn succeeds Dean Baquet, who will remain at the Times in a new, as-yet-undisclosed role.

Kahn has served as managing editor, the second highest-ranking role at the Times since September 2016. He becomes the 13th person to hold the top editor's job since the paper began publishing in 1851.

"We couldn’t ask for a better leader for our newsroom amid a historic convergence of events," publisher and chairman of The New York Times Co. A.G. Sulzberger said in a statement, adding: "And as one of the architects of our digital transformation, Joe’s vision will be crucial as we seek to become even more valuable to readers around the world.” 

Baquet, who was named executive editor in 2014, succeeded Jill Abramson, the first and only woman to hold that position.

Sulzberger characterized Baquet's eight-year leadership of the Times newsroom as an eight-year period that has been an "unbelievably challenging and consequential period, from guiding our transformation into a truly digital newsroom to confronting the escalating pressures on independent journalism to keeping pace with a historic flood of giant news stories.

"At the same time, Dean built the strongest investigative reporting operation on earth and oversaw a bounty of journalism that repeatedly changed the national conversation, from #MeToo, to “The Daily,” to the 1619 Project, to our coverage of the Trump administration, COVID pandemic and conflict in Ukraine.” 

During his tenure as executive editor, the Times has seen significant audience and subscriber growth and has won 18 Pulitzer Prizes, including two for Public Service. The Times now reaches 100 million readers each month and had 6.7 million subscriptions to its print and digital news products as of the end of 2021.

While the paper did not elaborate on Baquet's new role, it said he would "lead a forthcoming Times initiative."