Blumenstein of NY Times talks about expanding its business coverage

Longtime business journalist Rebecca Blumenstein spoke with Ashley Zlatopolsky of the Detroit Jewish News about her career.

Here is an excerpt:

Can you tell us about your 2017 transition to the Times?

My first job when I arrived at the Times was to reinvigorate and elevate our business coverage. The Times had a long tradition of great investigative business journalism, but it was not enough of a daily must-read. I hired Ellen Pollock, the former editor of Business Week, to be the business editor, and we significantly expanded our team, particularly in Silicon Valley and Washington. ‘Business’ is now one of the biggest staffs at the Times and because of our traditional strength in politics, we are uniquely suited to cover the increasing number of stories and issues at the intersection of business and politics.

From there, I took a role managing the digital news desk, which runs the website and NYT app 24/7 around the world. We saw historic gains in readership as we increased our news metabolism and launched more live, continuously updated briefings during major news events.

During the relentless news cycle of 2020, with the pandemic, the unrest following the death of George Floyd and the presidential election, I headed a major expansion of our live coverage. As a deputy managing editor, I am part of the masthead of the Times and weigh in on other issues facing the organization.

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