NYTimes to rebuild media desk

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet has promised to rebuild the media desk decimated by buyouts and layoffs, reports Keith Kelly of the New York Post.

Kelly writes, “Ad columnist Stuart Elliott and TV reporter Bill Carter, who each had 20-plus years at the paper, opted for buyouts, along with Christine Haughney, who covered newspapers and magazines.

“Among those hit with involuntary pink slips were Leslie Kaufman, a 16-year veteran who wrote about digital media, and Craig Hunter, a deputy media editor who had overseen Elliott’s ad column.

“In his ‘Charting the Future’ note, Baquet said the paper would ‘soon begin rebuilding our media team’ even as he acknowledged that more cuts could be around the corner.

“‘Do these changes assure that we will not have to go through painful cutting again? That’s my goal, but I can’t guarantee it,’ he said. ‘No modern editor can. There is no magic bullet to the issues that confront high-quality news organizations.'”

Read more here.