Ex-L.A. Times Editor to Head Washington Bureau
Dean Baquet, ousted as editor of the Los Angeles Times after he refused to make budget cuts mandated by the parent Tribune Co., is rejoining the New York Times as chief of its Washington bureau, Times Executive Editor Bill Keller announced Tuesday.
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He will succeed Phil Taubman, who “will be taking on a special reporting assignment in the area of national security” as a correspondent with the title of associate editor.
“Back in 2005, when Dean moved into the top job in Los Angeles, I described him as ‘a world-class investigator, an inspiring editor and a barrel of fun,'” Keller said in a staff memo. “It was hard to miss the subtext: ‘And I miss him.’ Since then he has demonstrated that, in addition to being all of those things, he is a charismatic leader, an unflinching advocate of the value and values of professional journalism, and a cool character under fire. It’s nice to have him back where he belongs, at a paper where he can devote his talents and enthusiasm fully to the practice of journalism, in a bureau that can rise to all of his expectations.
“The many of you who worked with Dean before he left us in the year 2000 know what to expect from a bureau under his leadership: tough-minded, aggressive, fearless reporting, original insights, great craftsmanship and the thrill of competition. He reminds you why you got into this business, and why it matters.
“Dean will take over March 5, allowing time for transition and for a little celebration of two great journalists. He will be an Assistant Managing Editor, reflecting both the depth of his experience in the upper echelons of our profession and the cross-departmental importance of the bureau,” Keller said.
Baquet was the first black top editor at the L.A. Times and was the black journalist heading the largest U.S. newsroom. His return to the New York paper places a journalist of color in a top newsroom job there for the first time since the late Gerald M. Boyd resigned as managing editor in 2003. It also makes Baquet the first black Washington bureau chief at the paper.
Bacquet had previously been national editor at the New York paper. When Howell Raines left as the New York Times’ top editor in 2003, Baquet was mentioned as a possible successor. But Baquet said then, “I really love being the managing editor of the Los Angeles Times.” He subsequently became editor and served in that post until he was dismissed on Election Day.
- New York Times news release
- James Rainey, Los Angeles Times: Editor who quit over staffing cuts hired by N.Y. Times
- Joe Strupp, Editor & Publisher: ‘NY Times’ D.C. Staffers Welcome Baquet — But Will He Succeed Keller?
