A.G. Sulzberger
Publisher, The New York Times
A.G. Sulzberger is Publisher of The New York Times. The sixth member of the Ochs/Sulzberger family to serve as Publisher, he was formerly a reporter at The Providence Journal and The Oregonian.
Quotes
I always say the pay model strategy is deceptively simple. It is making something worth paying for. You can call it marketing strategy, you can call it a digital subscription strategy. But at the end of the day, it’s making something worth paying for.
One of the things I worry about is we always look to the Texas Tribune, for very good reasons. They do excellent work and they’ve got excellent leadership, and it feels like they’ve got to a relatively substantial place. But Texas isn’t local. Texas is the size of a big country.
innovation fever, where there’s a sense of innovation for innovation’s sake, new for new’s sake. I think the word ‘innovation’ has in some ways been a real distraction to the industry.
It’s really important for any organization that’s going through a period of radical change, like the Times is, like our industry is, to understand what’s the core, what’s the thing you’re changing in service of? Because if everything is up for grabs, if you can change anything, then you really don’t have a reason for being. For us the core is original, expert, on-the-ground, reported journalism that’s independent, fair and accurate. That’s the core, and then everything else is in service of that.