Fisher returns to NY Times after Bloomberg stint

Ian Fisher, who was a weekends editor at Bloomberg News from 2018 to 2025, has returned to the New York Times.

Times Washington bureau chief Dick Stevenson sent out the following on Monday:

Everyone in Washington knows that the news here never stops. We’re regularly reminded of that on weekends, when big stories break with great regularity and our audience remains deeply engaged. Wars, legislative battles, political crises, deaths — all have a way of storming into our Saturdays and Sundays even as we are landing major enterprise pieces.

To help bolster the bureau’s capacity to provide seven-day-a-week coverage, we’re thrilled to announce the hiring of a powerhouse editor: Ian Fisher, who will be familiar to many of you as a longtime Times correspondent and editor with a remarkable résumé of achievement.

Ian will take over management of the bureau’s news report on Saturdays and Sundays, providing continuity across the weekend. He will work with all our editors and reporting teams during his weekdays on duty to plan for developments and help ensure a steady rollout of enterprise. And he will be a wise voice to have at the table as we shape our coverage of these tumultuous and historic times.

He’s a deft editor with terrific news judgment, experience on all of our major coverage lines, creative ideas and a history as a digital innovator.

Ian’s first 27-year stint at The Times began in a newsroom in which the typewriter had not yet gone silent and ended as The Times was making it possible for readers to get the news as it happened. His career landed him at the heart of both eras: first following the old-school path from clerk to reporter to foreign correspondent and editor, then as a key figure in the transformation of The Times into a digital-first newsroom.

He started as a clerk, mostly on the Metro desk, learning Times journalism from greats like Bob McFadden, Frank Clines and John Kifner. After brief stints in the Bronx, Albany and D.C., he was sent to cover the end of the war in Bosnia. He then spent a decade abroad, as bureau chief in East Africa, Eastern Europe, Rome and Jerusalem. He has bylines from more than 50 countries and covered a dozen conflicts, including in Iraq, Israel, the Balkans and Congo.

Ian returned to New York in 2008, first as co-deputy with Joe Kahn on the Foreign desk, before moving to what we then referred to as the website, eventually serving as assistant managing editor and deputy executive editor. At one point, Marc Lacey told him a well-kept secret was that weekend editor is one of the best jobs at The Times. Ian took on the role for a year during Donald Trump’s first run for president and concluded that Marc was right.

After Ian left The Times in 2017, he was hired by Bloomberg to help launch its first robust weekend operation, a role he held until last year.

He will be shuttling between New York and Washington, and will start Feb. 23. We’re thrilled to welcome him back. Please join us in welcoming him home.

— Dick and Matea