The New york city Times sporting activities division sent a letter to its leadership Sunday, demanding answers about the section’s future over problems it will obtain shut down as the newspaper proceeds to merge The Athletic into its sports insurance coverage, according to a report from The Washington Post.
The letter, obtained by The Washington Article, was sent to managing editor Joseph Kahn and chairman of The New York Times Firm, A.G. Sulzberger.
“For 18 months, The New York Times has left its sporting activities team turning in the wind,” the letter specified, according to the report. “We have seen the business get a competitor with numerous sportswriters and weigh decisions regarding the future of sporting activities coverage at The Times without, in numerous instances, even a courtesy phone call, let alone any type of solicitation of our experience.
“The firm’s efforts show up to be capping, with The Times seeking a full-scale technological migration of The Sports to The Times’s platforms and the danger that the business will successfully shut down our section.”
The report comes even more than a year after The New York Times Firm acquired The Athletic, a subscription-based sports journalism website, for $550 million.When the offer was made, Meredith Kopit Levien, Chief Executive Officer of The New York City Times Firm, claimed in a declaration that The Athletic would certainly exist as a” stand-alone item “that would offer considerable sports protection.”With one of the largest committed groups of reporters covering sporting activities globally and a commitment to day-to-day coverage, The Athletic is an excellent complement to The Times,” the declaration read.Stephen A. Smith, ESPN discharges:’Extra is coming‘and’I might be following ‘Regardless of the idea The Athletic would operate individually from The New York Times, there has been overlap in protection in between the 2 entities, as The Washington Message reported Kahn informed sports staff at The New york city Times there required to be more integration.As a result, anonymous current and former sporting activities staffers told the electrical outlet the combination
could result in jobs lost, compeling people to transfer to The Athletic or other areas. The letter reportedly stated a brand-new staff member agreement where leadership promised no layoffs for the Times.Another concern reported was completion of the Times ‘sports section, noting it has actually provided sports coverage for the newspaper since the initial Olympics in Athens in 1896. The Washington Blog post reported the Times had around 40 to 50 staffers in its sports section last year, yet some people have left and positions have not been replaced.”We have actually had conversations considering that we bought The Athletic regarding what it indicates for the future
of our sporting activities protection. We have actually rolled out some modifications, such as consisting of Athletic stories on the nytimes.com home screen,”a spokesperson for The New york city Times told U.S.A. TODAY Sports.”As with any kind of protection location, we have been very closely evaluating just how to provide the finest feasible sporting activities journalism for our expanding audience. We’ll update when we have even more to share.
“The Athletic just recently announced discharges and reorganization to virtually 4% of its newsroom, with almost 20 journalists given up and another 20 reassigned to different roles.In a personnel memo, publisher David Perpich and executive editor Steven Ginsberg created The Athletic was concentrating on more comprehensive coverage as opposed to one beat press reporter covering each team.Contrbuting: Lorenzo Reyes, U.S.A. TODAY
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New York Times sports staff sends letter demanding answers on … – USA TODAY
