2RPP Making News at The New York Times 2RPP 2RPP Making News at The New York Times Nikki Usher The University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor 2RPP Copyright © 2014 by Nikki Usher All rights reserved This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid- free paper 2017 2016 2015 2014 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978- 0- 472- 11936- 3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978- 0- 472- 03596- 0 (paper : alk. paper) ISBN 978- 0- 472- 12049- 9 (e- book) 2RPP To Herbert Gans, for his invaluable advice, wit, and wisdom and for inspiring me to begin a journey into the changing newsroom 2RPP 2RPP Contents Introduction: The imesT in the Digital Age 1 1. Setting: News about the News: The imesT in 2010 30 2. Three Days in the Lives of New York Times Journalists 49 3. The Irony of Immediacy 87 4. Immediacy: To What End? 125 5. Interactivity: What Is It? Who Are These People? And Why? 150 6. Participation, Branding, and the New New York Times 186 7. Prelude to What? 216 Methods 242 Notes 247 Bibliography 257 Index 275 2RPP 2RPP Acknowledgments This project would have been impossible without the unconditional support I received at the University of Southern California’s Annen- berg School of Communication and Journalism and at the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs. I extend my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Larry Gross, for his support, ad- vice, and critique. I also want to thank my dissertation committee, Henry Jenkins, Geneva Overholser, and Patti Riley, for their feedback and willingness to let me write a “book” instead of a traditional dis- sertation. Larry had me change hands and sent me to Joe Turow, a fan- tastic scholar, editor, and author at Annenberg East— the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School. Joe took this manuscript for his am- bitious new series with the University of Michigan Press and provided incredible insight, editing, and trenchant support to get it into shape. I am incredibly lucky to have had him at my side. I also have been fortu- nate to have had the kind support of Tom Dwyer, past executive editor at the University of Michigan Press, who has been steadfastly support- ive of my potential as a junior scholar. I would also like to thank all of the many senior scholars who have helped me from graduate school to this point. In addition, having the chance to engage with Herbert Gans through years’ worth of emails and far too few in- person meetings has been humbling and challeng- ing. My cohort of junior scholars engaged in similar work have been as- toundingly supportive, considering that we could be jealously at heads with each other. I particularly want to thank C.W. Anderson for our 2RPP x Making News at The New York Times friendship and his collegiality, and I would be at a loss without Matt Carlson, Seth Lewis, and Matt Powers and our regular email banter. The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Af- fairs has been encouraging throughout this process as I have moved from dissertation to book. I want to thank all my colleagues, especially Kim Gross, Frank Sesno, Steven Livingston, Bob Entman, and Catie Bailard. Kim, Frank, Silvio Waisbord, and Matt Hindman read vari- ous drafts of this book; Bob provided amazing advice about the pub- lishing process, Silvio a chill pill. Matt challenged me and helped me think through some serious blocks, and I am lucky he was working on a new book as I began mine. Our colleague emeritus Jerry Manheim read much of this manuscript. All of my colleagues deserve thanks, and I expect our ties to deepen over the coming years. My dutiful re- search assistant Todd Kominiak read every word and formatted the document. And of course, deep gratitude goes to those who helped make sure I was housed and fed, and properly funded and reimbursed: Christine Lloreda at Annenberg and Maria Jackson at GWU. Finally, special thanks to The New York Times and the business desk in particular. Larry Ingrassia and Bill Schmidt let me into the news- room, and Kevin McKenna guided me while I was there—and an- swered any and all possible questions I might have. Special thanks to a few Times staffers who made my work so much fun: Tanzina Vega, Michael J. de la Merced, Mark Getzfred, Brian Stelter, Javier Hernan- dez, Eric Dash, and Kelly Couturier. Liz Alderman was the crucial link in my International Herald Tribune knowledge and in a visit to Paris, which was truly amazing. Many at The Times helped in so many ways, though of course all errors here are my own. Thanks to all of my friends outside the walls of academia who have helped me through this process— both with the manuscript and with your kind support. And special thanks to my wife, Shelly Layser, who continues to be my inspiration. I couldn’t ask for anything more in a life partner. 2RPP Introduction THE TIMES IN THE DIGITAL AGE The new New York Times building that stands blocks away from its namesake Times Square is a fifty- two- story, Renzo Piano- designed of- fice tower between Fortieth and Forty- first streets on Eighth Avenue. The ground floor of the building is dedicated to a New York Times audi- torium, rented out for events and used by The Times for “Times Talks,” where New Yorkers have the chance to meet their favorite Times critic or other public intellectual— or in some cases, a baseball player for the Yankees. The building itself is, as the leasing office proclaims, the first “high rise curtain wall with ceramic sunscreen to be built in the United S t a t e s .” 1 Practically, what this means is that the glass- walled building has light- sensitive blinds that open and shut of their own accord, based on passing clouds or bright afternoon sunlight. The magic of this sys- tem wore off quickly for many of the staffers inside, who learned to look up when the loud flaps move and promptly reconfigure the blinds to their liking. The new building is a great contrast to the paper’s home since 1913 on West Forty- third Street. The old building was a dour, sparsely win- dowed gray stone edifice hidden on a side street away from the bustle of Times Square. Known to generations of journalists as “the factory,” it surely contributed to the paper’s image as the “Gray Lady” of American journalism. The new home of The New York Times for the digital age, though, is smack- dab in the middle of its audience. You almost have 2RPP 2 Making News at The New York Times to pass the building to get between the Port Authority and the Times Square subway stop. Journalists who happen to be eating lunch in the fourteenth- floor cafeteria, or simply looking out the window, can see the city in endless motion. This new building is the symbol of a collection of promises: the start of The Times as a fully integrated Web newsroom; The Times as a shining glass beacon for innovation in news; The Times as a stamp upon the New York skyline, marking its continued relevance. And it is, at the same time, a symbol of the challenge inherent in achieving each of those aspirations. The architecture itself tries to embody these hopes. Over each of the three entrances to the building hangs a The New York Times sign in the distinctive font that has been the legendary banner of the news- paper for decades. Each sign is bold enough to inspire tourists to take photos, but the entrances are not foreboding; in fact, each one is open to the public. People are invited inside the sun- soaked lobby to admire the public art and the glass atrium, though of course they are stopped by security should they try to go inside the elevators leading to the actual newsroom. All the glass, all the open space— the entire interior look of the newsroom is intended to signal a new era for the newspaper in the digital age. Inside, the three main floors of the newsroom are all connected by red, painted stairways with a big, wide gap for everyone on the fourth floor to peer down at people working on the second and third floors. The most important seats in the house are on the third floor. Here, The Times has deliberately tried to place the people charged with deciding the most important print stories of the day directly next to the people who make the up- to- the- minute decisions about what goes on the Web page. The top brass— the executive editor and two managing editors— sit next to the two most prominent members of the online staff. Gathered in a few cubicles located in the center of the newsroom is the locus of production for the home page and the hub of the Web operations. The cubicles, a medium wood, are situated low enough to make it easy for people to have conversations with each other.