For the first time in its storied history a woman will soon be running the Gray Lady. Effective September 6, Bill Keller will no longer be the Executive Editor of The New York Times, he will be replaced by Jill Abramson. The move is a major milestone for the paper, where not too long ago women were few and far between.
Abramson, who came to the paper from the the Journal in 1997, has been the paper's managing editor since 2003 and recently took time off from that gig to help run the paper's important online operations, describes being named editor as like "ascending to Valhalla."
Dean Baquet, the Washington bureau chief and former editor of the LA Times, will become the new managing editor and Keller, whose recent Times Magazine columns have been widely ridiculed, will continue on at the paper, working as a full-time writer with a column in the about to relaunch Sunday opinion pages.
The paper's publisher, Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger, says he accepted Keller's resignation "with mixed emotions." But the decision was all Keller's, he said, before continuing “He’s been my partner for the last eight years...He’s been an excellent partner. And we’ve grown together. If that’s where his heart is and his head is, then you have to embrace that.”
