New York Times : Paula Szuchman Named Director of Audio

All,

We all know how central audio has become to Times journalism. 'The Daily,' our flagship show, has reshaped the news landscape since its launch in 2017. Its episodes were downloaded 1.2 billion times last year alone. But it's not just 'The Daily.' We produce 'Still Processing,' 'Modern Love,' 'The Argument,' 'Sway,' and 'The Ezra Klein Show,' along with 'The Book Review' and 'Popcast,' with a steady stream of narrated articles and more shows in development and a slate of standalone series to boot. And then, of course, there's Serial and the team behind it - they joined The Times last year, and we're investing in them as a key part of our audio strategy.

In short, we have a robust and growing audio report that has expanded our journalism, our influence and our reach by allowing tens of millions of people to spend countless more hours with The Times than ever before.

Our audio teams are now approaching 100 people and our ranks continue to grow alongside our ambition and our impact. That's why we're excited to announce today that Paula Szuchman, the head of Opinion Audio, will become the director of Audio.

As director of Audio, Paula will manage the teams that make our podcasts to ensure that our journalism remains excellent, even as we scale to do more, and that we live up to our values in fostering an equitable and inclusive culture. She will work closely with Lisa Tobin on news and enterprise stories; with Lisa Chow and her team on 'The Daily'; with Alison Bruzek, who is stepping in as interim leader in Opinion Audio; as well as with other key leaders across our portfolio. (Serial will continue to operate as its own team, headed up by Julie Snyder, who reports to Sam.)

Paula joined The Times in 2020 as the leader of Opinion Audio, where she quickly built up an all-star team that produces five episodes a week across three first-rate shows. Paula is a creative and exacting editor who makes every story she works on better. She is a compassionate manager who understands the demands of audio production as well as print - she spent three years as a Page One editor at The Wall Street Journal.

News Audio and Opinion Audio will continue to be two separate teams, maintaining a clear distinction in the journalism that each produces. In overseeing both teams, Paula will focus on ensuring that each remains independent and empowered to do its best work. She will also lead, alongside Katie, the effort to hire her replacement to helm Opinion Audio. We are confident that bringing both teams under her leadership will create new career paths, better communication and a stronger culture that will continue to make The Times the best place for ambitious audio journalists to build wide-ranging careers.

Paula has a proven track record in managing journalists across mediums - she ran production teams for five years at WNYC, working across a range of subjects from personal narratives to news. After eight years at The Wall Street Journal, she ran the newsroom at The Daily Beast and worked as an editor at Newsweek.

Paula will report to Sam, and she will have news in the coming weeks and months about her leadership team. Please join us in congratulating Paula on her promotion.

Dean, Joe, Sam and Katie

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