New York Instances Names James Dao Metro Editor

The New York Times on Monday named Jim Dao, an associate editor at the National Desk who has served in a variety of roles with the newspaper since 1992, as the new editor for major cities.

“Jim will oversee the most momentous mayors’ race in many years and the epic story of the rebuilding of a pandemic-ravaged city,” said Dean Baquet, the Times editor-in-chief, and Joseph Kahn, the editor-in-chief, in a note to staff on Monday .

For Mr. Dao, 63, the new role is a homecoming. He joined The Times almost 30 years ago as a subway reporter and later became the department’s assistant editor. He was also the head of the Albany bureau, a congressional reporter, and a Pentagon correspondent.

In 2010 and 2011 he reported on an eight-part multimedia series about the long service of an army battalion in Afghanistan, “A Year at War”, which won an Emmy. He was also the executive producer of Father Soldier Son, a Netflix documentary based on the life of a sergeant featured on his Afghanistan series.

In 2016, Mr. Dao joined the Op-Ed editor in the opinion department, which is managed separately from the newsroom. In June, the section’s top editor, James Bennet, resigned due to internal and external criticism of an essay in the Times by Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, calling for the use of troops in response to civil unrest. Mr. Dao resigned from his position and the Times reassigned him and made him editor at the National Desk.

Mr Dao is taking over underground reporting from Clifford J. Levy, who headed the department from 2018 until January when The Times announced that he would be spending some time advising the audio department as assistant editor-in-chief, one of its senior editorial positions at the paper.

Mr. Dao joins the new job as a number of candidates are promoted ahead of the November 2nd vote to replace New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. He also accepts the job at a time of change within the Times. Senior editors were recently promoted as 64-year-old Baquet nears the newspaper’s traditional retirement age of 66 for top executives.

Carolyn Ryan, who oversees recruiting and strategy at The Times, was promoted to assistant editor-in-chief in October. Marc Lacey, the former editor of the National Desk, joined the newsroom executive team in December as editor of live coverage. Rebecca Blumenstein was promoted to a newly created role as deputy editor in February, who works directly with Verlag AG Sulzberger.

The Times has also been promoting emerging stars lately. Jia Lynn Yang, Assistant Editor at the National Desk, was named National Editor in February. Ms. Yang, the author of the 2020 book, A Mighty and Irresistible Flood: The Epic Battle for American Immigration, 1924-1965, coordinated the national department’s collaboration with the political team for the newspaper’s coverage of the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 year presidential campaign.

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