New York Times opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury sent out the following on Friday:
At a time of growing influencer-driven commentary and distrust of institutions, a newspaper editorial board can seem old-fashioned. But The Times isn’t just any institution, and our audience is looking to us for insight, discernment and leadership in some of the most chaotic and uncertain moments in the modern era. The mission, strengths and principles of Times Opinion mean that our editorials can serve as a signature voice. They can provide clarity amid the din. They can help readers think through the most vexing, divisive issues in an accessible, reasoned way.
That’s what our editorial board has long done. Now it is time to carve out a new vision for the board that is true to our longstanding values and updated for today’s world. I am delighted to announce that David Leonhardt will be joining Opinion to work with me to bring this vision to life. He will become an editorial director, overseeing the editing and writing of our editorials and serving as part of my leadership team with Patrick Healy, Meeta Agrawal, Matthew Rose and Brian Zittel.
David is the ideal person for this job because of his long record of creativity and innovation at The Times. He is also one of the clearest writers and explainers of complex topics. As anchor of The Morning, The Times’s flagship newsletter, David has turned it into one of this institution’s most important platforms over the past five years. Our newsroom colleagues will have more to say soon about The Morning, which will continue uninterrupted as David takes on his new role. He was also the founding editor of The Upshot, one of the most innovative and influential platforms of data-driven reporting in journalism. He ran the 2020 Group, which helped Times leadership develop the newsroom’s digital strategy.
“As host of The Morning, David was a key architect of a new front page, one that landed in millions of inboxes every morning and often set the agenda for the day,” said Joe Kahn. “David so often sees untold stories or unexplained context that he, in his lucid style, turns into unmissable journalism. We will miss him in the newsroom but look forward to seeing his impact in Opinion.”
His entrepreneurial streak was on display in his previous stint in Opinion, from 2016 to 2020, when he helped remake the Opinion Today newsletter, co-created the podcast “The Argument” and demonstrated how to use multimedia work as part of a Times column (including influential columns on higher education, President Trump’s lies and more). David is excited to bring a similarly broad approach to his new role, working closely with Opinion’s video, graphics and audio teams.
David joined The Times in 1999 as a Business reporter. During his quarter-century here, he has also been the Washington bureau chief, a Business columnist and a staff writer for the Magazine. He has won a Gerald Loeb Award for magazine writing and a Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
I know that some publications have retreated from having editorials or an editorial board in recent years. A.G. and I have chosen to do the opposite. We believe that The Times’s editorial board can be a crucial voice in these challenging times.
— Kathleen Kingsbury
