In a major newsroom shakeup, the New York Times appointed Joe Kahn as its new managing editor, filling a position that had been phased out two years ago.
Kahn, 52, will now go from assistant editor for international to second-in-command to executive editor Dean Baquet, himself a former managing editor at the Times.
In announcing the change on Friday, Baquet said Kahn will "lead our efforts to build The Times of the future, and to grapple with questions of what we cover going forward, and what our desks should look like."
Part of that role will have Kahn "putting into effect changes proposed by a group that is working to prepare and transform the newsroom for a digital future," according to a report Friday in the Times about the personnel changes.
A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Kahn will become the Times' first managing editor since 2014. Baquet retired the title months after he rose from managing editor to executive editor at the Times. In removing what was the second most senior newsroom role, Baquet replaced the position with a group of deputy executive editors.
The Times announced Friday that one of those deputies, Susan Chira, will now leave that position to write about gender issues for the paper.
The appointment of Kahn will no doubt fuel speculation that he is next in line to replace Baquet. Kahn has had a distinguished tenure at the Times, which he joined in 1998. He played a major role in the paper's $50 million international digital expansion that was announced in April. In a press release on Friday, the newspaper described him as "the architect of The Times's international strategy."
