NY Times taps Kingsbury as Opinion editor

The following announcement was sent out from The New York Times chairman and publisher A.G. Sulzberger:

Colleagues,

I’m excited to announce that Kathleen Kingsbury, who has superbly led the Opinion team these last few months will officially take on the role of Opinion Editor.

For those who have worked alongside Kathleen, this announcement will come as little surprise. She’s a natural leader, fearless journalist and creative innovator. She has a wide-ranging intellect, with a passion for exploring the ideas and arguments shaping the world today. A former foreign correspondent, business reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer herself, Kathleen is known in the department for championing her colleagues and elevating their work.

In her three years at The Times, Kathleen has already led Opinion through many changes. As both a deputy and interim leader, she has helped reshape the makeup of the team, how it operates and the journalism it produces. She helped build video, graphics and audience teams, nurture new columnists and rethink what editorials can be. There is a lot still to do from continuing to reimagine Op-Eds, to widening the range of voices in our pages, to expanding into new forms, as we have done in 2020 with audio. She takes on this role with the mandate to continue that work, and she will continue to partner with me and our newsroom leaders to make sure the distinction between our news and opinion journalism is clear to our readers.

Opinion is one of our signature desks, beloved by readers who turn to it to broaden their perspective and help make sense of the news. Kathleen’s central focus will be to ensure the opinion report continues to surprise and challenge readers every day, helping them understand the world by engaging critically with the diversity of ideas and experiences shaping it. This is a mission she cares deeply about and has committed herself to throughout her time in Opinion.

This mission is more important than ever now, as a fractured and polarized country and world struggles to understand itself, let alone to find common answers to our most pressing challenges. We believe Opinion can play an important role as a home of respectful, fair-minded debate, one that brings together a wide range of thoughtful voices — from our own columnists to leaders and experts to people across all walks of life — to explore the most important and pressing issues with good faith and intellectual honesty.

AG