By The New York Times experienced a dramatic event when many employees in the sports department wrote a letter to the newspaper’s proprietors expressing their worries about their futures. Since the business acquired The Athletic in 2022, many employees have felt insecure and abandoned.
The staff got the clarity they needed on Monday, but many of the people who signed the letter found it to be far from comforting. The Athletic has been tasked with covering all sports coverage across digital and print channels after The Times announced its plan to completely dissolve the sports section.
In an email to the Times staff, the executive editor, Joe Kahn, and the deputy managing editor, Monica Drake, explained the rationale for this decision. They made a point of emphasising their desire to concentrate more intently on innovative and high-impact news and enterprise journalism that examines the connections between sports and money, power, culture, politics, and society at large. Concurrently, there will be less coverage of games, players, teams, and leagues in the media.
Over 35 journalists and editors who were still working in the sports department before the announcement would be significantly impacted by this choice. The Times previously downsized its sports division in recent years, and this most recent change is a dramatic change in how they cover sports.
The New York Times’ current goal is to offer a distinctive viewpoint on sports by exploring the deeper meanings and wider context surrounding the world of athletics. They want to produce stories that have an impact beyond what is often covered in game reports, therefore they have refocused their efforts on the junction between sports and many facets of life.
The decision highlights the newspaper’s dedication to updating its coverage and adjusting to the changing media landscape, even if it may be unpleasant and uncomfortable for the impacted personnel. How The Athletic will fit within the New York Times structure and how readers will react to the updated sports coverage methodology are still up in the air.
What's your reaction?
