David Kaplan of PaidContent.org interviews NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller about how the paper is increasing its online offerings in business and technology news, which is resulting in some additional hiring.
Kaplan writes, “No defensive crouch: Joining with LinkedIn and starting the new sections are two examples of how the site plans to battle back against an online ad slowdown and a generally sour economy, Schiller says. ‘This is what we feel like we need to do in the economy in order to grow.The worst thing we could do would be to go into a defensive crouch. So, yes, we think this is a great time to launch a luxury magazine. This is a great time to build out our Business and Technology sections and add more reporters and editors.'”
Later, Kaplan writes, “While the NYT offered buyouts last April in an attempt to trim the news staff by 100, Schiller says the company has also been in a limited hiring mode. ‘In an age where people are cutting, we’re bringing in new hires for our newsroom, with experienced journalists from high-profile publications. And we’re continuing to do so. We have more executive decision-makers on our site versus any other – including WSJ. What we need to do, is bring them deeper into our business coverage. We looked at their behavior and we saw that they’re looking at foreign news, culture, travel. It will also make it easier for advertisers to reach them contextually. It’s a big initiative for us, we think it’s going to be a big revenue driver.'”
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