NEW YORK (JTA) — Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The New York Times, is unexpectedly leaving her post.
Abramson, the first woman but hardly the first Jew to hold the top editorial position at the paper, lasted less than three years. The Times did not explain the reason for her departure. She will be replaced by Dean Baquet, the managing editor.
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the Times’ publisher and chairman of its parent company, announced the change in the Times newsroom on Wednesday afternoon. Sulzberger said Abramson’s departure was related to “an issue with management in the newsroom” and did not have to do with the quality of journalism during her tenure, according to Politico. Abramson was not present for the announcement.
Abramson, 60, had worked at The Wall Street Journal for about a decade before joining the Times in 1997. She worked as an investigative reporter and Washington bureau chief before being named executive editor in May 2011.
During her tenure as editor, revenue from readers and subscribers surpassed advertising for the first time. The Times had 760,000 digital subscribers at the end of 2013 and recently launched a premium subscriber service called Times Premier.
