NY Times taps Stevenson as DC bureau chief

New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn sent out the following on Friday:

A January 2010 front page analysis of Barack Obama’s State of the Union address noted that the president ended his address with a plaintive appeal to transcend partisanship. The Times reporter succinctly summed up the urgent challenge: “Is it possible to embrace complexity in a political and media culture that demands simple themes and promotes conflict?”

Looking back nearly 15 years later, that writer demonstrated a remarkable ability to see around corners – perhaps far beyond.

The writer was Dick Stevenson. As we enter the next chapter of complexity and conflict in Washington, we are pleased to announce that Dick will be our next bureau chief.

Dick comes to the bureau chief’s job after a nearly 40-year career at The Times, the last three as the Washington editor, working as a partner of outgoing bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller. In that role, he has guided our coverage of the investigations of President-elect Donald Trump among other subjects and burnished his reputation as a calm and careful navigator of the most sensitive stories.

“Dick will be a superb bureau chief,” Elisabeth said. “He is tough, fair-minded and compassionate, with deep experience in Washington and overseas. He knows how to drive big news, run investigations, manage a growing and complex bureau and bring out the very best in reporters and editors, who will be inspired to have him as their leader.”

Dick is known as a reporter’s editor, a journalist who delves deep in the nuance of the reporting and writing. That is hardly surprising given his wide experience at The Times.

He began his career as a reporter trainee on Business in 1985. As a reporter in the Los Angeles bureau, he wrote about the defense industry, the savings-and-loan scandal, Hollywood, immigration and the 1992 L.A. riots. Dick then moved to London, where he covered European economic issues, Northern Ireland and the emergence of post-Soviet societies across the Eastern bloc. He came to Washington in 1996 as an economics correspondent and then as a White House correspondent during the George W. Bush presidency.

Dick made the transition to editing, becoming the deputy Washington bureau chief in 2006, and served as political editor during the 2008 and 2012 elections. He then went overseas and led the transformation of our international operations in Europe and the U.K. by integrating The International Herald Tribune and The Times, relaunching The Times International Edition in print and establishing our digital news hub in London.

His experience uniquely prepares him to guide our coverage of the second Trump administration and its reverberations through Washington, across the country and around the globe. He has a deep understanding of The Times and embodies the mission of producing independent journalism in this most challenging time.

Please join us in congratulating Dick on this new role.