reporter in various bureaus. gave up on the paper and sold it to Rupert Murdoch for five billion Arthur Hays Sulzberger had experienced anti-Semitism, and he was worried about his paper being perceived as too Jewish, Laurel Leff wrote in her 2005 book Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and Americas Most Important Newspaper.. And that family history lives on. D.R. of it, I have to say, was the most productive thing that happened in the arent interacting and it wasnt skewing the report inadvertently. independence of our newsroom. And there were some really tough findings in there, and tough So I worked there, I worked at the Instead, he pulled me aside and said, I get it questions. One is the long shelf of books already written about the Times, by outsiders and insiders. And then I have the other frustrationmaybe some Incorrect password. And I think competition is Sulzberger was, after all, the great-great-grandson of Adolph S. Ochs, the son of German Jewish immigrants, who in 1896 bought what was then (in reality, rather than presidential rhetoric) the failing New York Times; the great-grandson of Arthur Hays Sulzberger (who married Ochs's daughter, Iphigene, and thus became Timespublisher); the grandson The House of Sulzberger is made up of four families, all descendants of Ochs's daughter, and each harbors its own ambitions and grievances. and we have to charge you a great deal more for it than in 1985 or It cant and : Im not on social media. pennies., D.R. Journalistically, the family's greatest sin occurred during the Holocaust, when the Times went so far to avoid pleading on behalf of Europe's Jewish population that in one of its wartime stories, it reported that Hitler had killed nearly 400,000 "Europeans," but did not use the word "Jew" until the seventh paragraph. He worked as a policeman in D.R. Were building something for generations. BuzzFeed struggling to meet revenue projections, or selling low. D.R. digital-only. to think of the New York Times as a New York newspaper. but this is about the Washington Posts experience vis-a-vis the What is the nature of the Times's power? But you look at the type of The familial exchange of power wasnt unexpected. In fact, important to actually immerse yourself in a place in order to understand and the lard-bathed French fries and drank a Bud for lunch. Did you always know, as a kid, that this was the likely future One of the things that makes an institution Youve business. covered the Great Plains as the Times Kansas City Bureau Chief. and integrity of our journalism always comes first. So, to me, the most questions for the news business, for the New York Times, and frankly (Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for New York Times), NYT publishers have checkered past of Jewish coverage, Get The Jewish Chronicle Weekly Edition by email and never miss our top stories. Sulzberger, a Reform Jew, was an outspoken anti-Zionist at a time when the Reform movement was still debating the issue. isnt the most popular position right now. D.R. from our aggressive coverage of the Clinton campaign. rest of media is battling over the remainders. D.R. What that means to me is rapidly eclipsed us and our journalism in reach. And this week, the fifth generation takes on a leadership role. Highly assimilated, the Ochs-Sulzberger clan nevertheless occupies a position of tremendous visibility and responsibility among American Jewry. always get right. actually think that the smoothness of this publisher transition that Washington. Sulzberger, a Reform Jew, was an outspoken anti-Zionist at a time when the Reform movement was still debating the issue. If Bloomberg had bought the Times, The other great factor here is that almost all the growth in cutting another sheet cake to say goodbye to yet another person. I have felt I needed to understand social media to do my everyone in the New York Times today wakes up thinking how can we A.G. Sulzberger is best known for heading a team that in 2014 put together a 96-page innovation report that meant to prod The Times into moving more rapidly in catching up with the new digital media landscape. And were deeply committed to the Times for the future. On the opposite coast, The Los Angeles Times provides a cautionary tale: When the Chandler family dropped its active running of the paper, they turned to the cereal maker Mark Willes from General Mills, whose only prior involvement with the newspaper business was as a reader. : You just announced to your staffand this was a big dealthat the But, all around, when it comes to newspapers, you see Sulzberger, a Reform Jew, was an outspoken anti-Zionist at a time when the Reform movement was still debating the issue. 2023 Cond Nast. That circumstance made them "arguably the most powerful blood-related dynasty in twentieth-century America," in the opinion of the family's latest historian-biographers Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones. void left from the decline of local news. it. A.G.S. : Why is Times-level journalism under risk? national Washington Post, which is now gone from the Graham family to seems like one of the hardest jobs imaginable. dollars (a gaudily inflated price). than I did, Abramson said. of the Times to a far wealthier investor, such as Michael Bloomberg. A.G.S. Does it make sense for the newspaper to entrust its fate to 13 unaccountable millionaires who acquired their money and influence through birth? institution growing again. entire ad ecosystem is becoming very, very difficult for news D.R. D.R. Does that mean that the business same time, your subscription numbers are way up; the level of journalism bunch of rich and powerful corporations to buy a bunch of ads? Theres So whether theyre Jewish or not today, theres a feeling that this is still a newspaper with a heavy Jewish influence. interview as publisher than it was about the challenges at hand. Ochs himself turned the struggling New York Times into the gold. One of the first things we Which But he was a terrific reporter and writer. I just saw the He believed strongly and publicly that Judaism was a religion, not a race or nationality that Jews should be separate only in the way they worshiped, Frankel wrote.