After “much deliberation” and what he referred to as a “fair amount of not-even-in-the-ballpark speculation from Times-obsessed kibitzers,” New York Times executive editor Bill Keller announced a pair of appointments this week. Jon Landman, the Times’ deputy managing editor, digital, was named as the paper’s culture editor, the role vacated by Sam Sifton when he took over as the Times food critic following Frank Bruni's exit.
Keller called the choice of Landman a “no brainer,” although that seems to be at odds with his “much deliberation” remark. (Landman had served as acting culture editor from 2004 to 2005 before transitioning to his current role.)
Alas, on Monday, Keller announced that Phil Corbett, deputy news editor since 2000, will take over for Craig Whitney as standards editor at the paper. Whitney is retiring at the end of the month.
Here are Keller’s memos to the Times staff:
Tuesday, Sept. 15
To the Staff:
After much deliberation, and a fair amount of not-even-in-the-ballpark speculation from Times-obsessed kibbitzers, we have a new culture editor to replace Sam Sifton. He is, I'm delighted to announce, Jon Landman.
Like the appointment of Sam as our new restaurant critic, this is one of those no-brainers that nonetheless requires some explaining because of the broader implications for the newsroom.
After more than four years overseeing the integration of the print and Web newsrooms and the spectacular flowering of journalistic innovation that accompanied it, Jon yearns to get back to running coverage, to refresh his roots. I doubt anyone will question that Jon brings to the Culture Department a strenuous intelligence, an inspiring vision, a gift for getting the very best from people and -- no small thing as our competitive landscape shifts -- a keen appreciation of what culture journalism can be on the Web. He spent a transitional year presiding over the department, implementing a sweeping overhaul of the department and grooming new leadership -- including Sam Sifton -- before he moved to the digital job. We interviewed a number of candidates, and were happily reminded in the process of the wealth of talent in our midst. But we're pretty sure the other candidates would agree that Jon Landman will be an extraordinary culture editor. That's the no-brainer part of the announcement.
While we're on the subject of Culture, we would like to tip our hats to Amy Virshup, who has kept the department functioning at its customary high level in the weeks since Sam moved into vacation and tastebud preparation mode.
We have, of course, given intense thought to what this means for our digital journalism, which is so vibrant a part of our present and so central a part of our future. Our belief is that this is a moment to complete the integration of the newsroom we began five years ago.
As the deputy managing editor for digital, Jon has worked to bring down the psychological barriers, bureaucratic impediments, and we-don't-do-things-that-way attitudes that separated the cultures of new and mainstream newsgathering.
