New York Times publisher's memo to staff
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| HOW IT CAME TO THIS |
Resignations of The New York Times' Executive Editor Howell Raines, Managing Editor Gerald Boyd
• May 1: Jayson Blair, a reporter, resigns from The Times after the newspaper finds fraud, plagiarism and inaccuracies in 36 of his 73 articles.
• May 22: A committee of 20 Times staffers and two outside news executives is named to review newsroom practices in what the Times calls "a low point in the 152-year history of the paper."
• May 28: Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Rick Bragg resigns after the newspaper suspends him over a story that carried his byline but was reported largely by a free-lancer.
• June 5: Boyd and Raines, the paper's top two editors, resign, having been the focus of much criticism, especially for allowing Blair to cover the Washington-area sniper case when the Times' metropolitan editor had raised flags about Blair's reporting.
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Following is the text of a memo from The New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. to staff members about the resignations announced Thursday of Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd:
To the staff:
As you can see from the attached press release, this morning I accepted the resignations of Howell Raines, our executive editor, and Gerald Boyd, our managing editor. Both Howell and Gerald have made enormous and lasting contributions to The Times over their long and distinguished careers. Given the events of the last month, however, Howell and Gerald concluded that it was best for The Times that they step down. With great sadness, I agreed with their decision.
Joe Lelyveld will return to serve as interim executive editor until the selection of new executive and managing editors is made. Since most of you know Joe, you'll understand why we can all be confident that during this interim period the immediate responsibility for the quality of our journalism will be in very good hands.
While the process of selecting a new executive editor will take some time, we will put that time to good use. The work of the newsroom's Siegal committee and other groups will continue with the goal of providing recommendations for strengthening our newsroom management systems and tightening some of our journalistic practices. I will remain extremely active in assuring that the momentum of these efforts continues.
This has been a difficult and painful time for all of us. Now our task is to go back to doing what we're here to do -- publishing this great newspaper. Our readers deserve no less.
While we focus on our craft, I can assure you that we will be just as focused on the goal of creating a work environment that is commensurate with the quality of our journalism and the esteem with which our brand, The New York Times, is held. We deserve no less.
I know that I can count on your support in accomplishing these important goals.
Arthur
