NYT’s Henriques accepts buyout, will continue to write for paper

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Diana Henriques, a longtime business journalist at The New York Times, has accepted the newspaper’s buyout but will continue to write for the paper as a contributing writer.

In an e-mail to Talking Biz News on Thursday night, Henriques wrote, “I have accepted the buyout, but was immediately offered and accepted a contract to work as a contributing writer in the business news section, beginning next week. I will keep a desk in the NYT building and will retain my current email address, phone number and mailing address. I’m actually filing a story the week after Christmas and another in January. So from a practical standpoint, this really is no big deal, even within the business journalism world — to the outside world, it is less than a non-event.

“The advantage of this arrangement for me is that it will give me greater flexibility to manage the other professional responsibilities I’ve taken on in the past year — a consulting agreement with HBO, which has optioned my Madoff book; the upcoming paperback edition of the book; service on the George Washington University Board of Trustees, and a slew of speaking engagements.  I’ve been encouraged to develop another book project, and very much want to do that and there are some teaching opportunities under consideration. But there are a number of intriguing stories I still plan to do for The New York Times in the coming year — as you’ll soon see, I hope!”

As a financial investigative reporter, Henriques has covered business governance and regulatory issues for The  Times since 1989. From 1969 until 1982, she covered state and local government, from zoning disputes to property tax assessments to municipal bonds, for other publications, including The Trenton (N.J.) Times. From 1986 until 1989, she was a staff writer for Barron’s magazine.

In 2004 and 2005, she exposed the deceptive practices used to sell unsuitable insurance, mutual funds and other financial products to young military personnel; those stories prompted investigations that ultimately led to cash refunds for thousands of service members and changes in federal law and state and Pentagon regulations governing the sale of insurance and other financial products to military consumers.

She is recently best known for her book, “The Wizard of Lies,” on convicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.