“Nearly everyone who gets a lucrative offer will leave. The era of the lifelong Timesman — or lifelong Timeswoman — is over.” That’s what an anonymous former New York Times journalist told HuffPo’s Michael Calderone when asked about the alarming number of staff departures at the Grey Lady.
Journalist Matt Bai is the third New York Times staffer to leave for Yahoo News in the past month. Add those departures to Nate Silver leaving for ESPN and Monday’s announcement that media critic Brian Stetler is leaving for CNN and it appears “the paper of record” is having trouble keeping their people on board.
Calderone seems to believe that the Times has lost some of its luster and journalists can actually do better on TV or the internet:
The Times has long enjoyed a position atop the media pecking order and the cachet of working at the “Paper of Record” remains both a draw for recruiting talent and keeping it. But it’s no longer the case that the Times can rely on prestige alone as talent fields competitive offers from both TV networks and also online sites that can pay significantly more money, provide greater journalistic freedom and offer multi-platform visibility — or some combination of the three.
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