New York Times executive and managing editors resign

NEW YORK — New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd resigned today amid the turmoil sparked by the Jayson Blair journalistic fraud scandal.

“This is a day that breaks my heart,” Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. told hundreds of staffers at an emotional morning meeting in the newspaper’s third-floor newsroom.

The Times announced that Joseph Lelyveld, 66, the paper’s former executive editor, had been named interim executive editor and would assume Raines’ responsibilities. No one will be named interim managing editor, the Times said.

Sulzberger thanked Raines and Boyd for putting the interests of the newspaper first. The Blair scandal wasn’t mentioned at this morning’s staff meeting, but it had started a weeks-long period of turbulence at the Times.

Blair, 27, resigned May 1 after he was found by the Times to have “committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud.” The newspaper announced it would form a committee to review newsroom policies, including hiring practices, the use of unidentified sources, the use of freelancers and byline and dateline practices.

The two top editors had been the focus of much of the criticism, particularly for allowing Blair to cover the Washington-area sniper case when the metropolitan editor had previously raised concerns about the reporter’s mistakes.

As shock waves reverberated over the Blair revelations, Pulitzer Prize-winning Times reporter Rick Bragg resigned May 28. The newspaper had suspended Bragg over a story that carried his byline but was reported largely by a freelancer.

“We know this has been a difficult period,” Raines said to the Times staff in an e-mail announcing Bragg’s resignation. Bragg declined to comment on the resignations today.

Raines and Boyd each made statements during today’s meeting, drawing prolonged applause from the staff members, some of whom were in tears.

Boyd spoke of his commitment to diversity and was briefly interrupted by applause. Retired Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Sr. — father of the current publisher — also attended the meeting, standing silently throughout.

“Everybody is upset about what happened,” said Dee Wedemeyer, an editor.

According to the Times Web site, Raines told his former staffers: “Remember, when a great story breaks out, go like hell.”

Minutes after the meeting, he left the building.

“They have made enormous contributions during their tenure,” Sulzberger Jr. said of Raines and Boyd, “including an extraordinary seven Pulitzer Prizes in 2002 and another this year. I appreciate all of their efforts in continuing the legacy of our great newspaper.”

The editors quit more than a month after Blair resigned from the newspaper, later telling the New York Observer that he “fooled some of the most brilliant people in journalism” with his reporting.

An initial investigation found fraud, plagiarism and inaccuracies in 36 of 73 articles Blair wrote between October and April. The Times detailed the fraud over four full pages in its May 11 edition, but the controversy was not quelled.

In an e-mail to staffers today, Sulzberger Jr. said “with great sadness,” he agreed with the editors’ decision to leave.

“Given the events of the last month ... Howell and Gerald concluded that it was best for The Times that they step down.”

Raines became executive editor just days before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The following April, the Times received a record seven Pulitzer Prizes — five for its coverage of the terrorist attacks and another for coverage of the war in Afghanistan.

He had been criticized for what some saw as his autocratic management style.

“You view me as inaccessible and arrogant,” he told staffers at a May 14 meeting. “You believe the newsroom is too hierarchical, that my ideas get acted on and others get ignored. I heard that you were convinced there’s a star system that singles out my favorites for elevation.”

Before becoming executive editor, Raines had been editor of the editorial page for eight years and previously headed the newspaper’s bureaus in Washington and London when he was named executive editor to replace the retiring Lelyveld.

He won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1992 for a memoir he wrote for The New York Times Magazine about his childhood friendship in Alabama with his family’s black housekeeper.

Boyd, 52, was named managing editor in 2001. He had been deputy managing editor for news from 1997 to 2001, and assistant managing editor from 1993 until 1997. He joined the newspaper in 1983

Lelyveld retired in 2001 after serving as executive editor for seven years. During his tenure, the Times won 12 Pulitzer Prizes, introduced color to its pages, added new sections and expanded its national circulation.