Tom Jolly
Times to Announce Section Consolidation
Media Mob has learned that The New York Times will make an announcement later today that it plans to cut the number of sections it has in the paper during some days of the week and it will fold in the Metro Section and Sports section into other sections of the newspaper.
According to newsroom sources, the Metro Section is moving into the A-section and the Sports section will move into the Business section for some portion of the week.
The move is being made to save money on printing. According to one newsroom source, neither metro editor Joe Sexton nor sports editor Tom Jolly was "thrilled with the decision, but they understood. read more »
The Tough Road to Beijing
Welcome to the Olympics! If you're one of the 20,000+ journalists covering the games, you've probably arrived. But boy, it hasn't been easy getting there. Over the past week, The Observer spoke to reporters and editors about their headaches getting credentials in Beijing.
"One day, they’ll e-mail us and ask for certain information and the next day, after we raised a question as to why, then it changes," said Tom Jolly, The New York Times sports editor. "This is mostly silly stuff—like requests for photos for credentials because there was a blue background instead of a white background. That literally happened."
"I think the biggest problem is set from the language barrier," said Fran Turkowitz, the assistant to the Times' sports department who's in charge of credentialing. read more »
Times Finally Lands Another NBA Reporter
The last year or so has not been a great time for the Times sports section. The paper lost three major talents in Damon Hack, Selena Roberts and Lee Jenkins all to Sports Illustrated. Clifton Brown, an NFL reporter, went to—of all places—The Sporting News. The paper's Nets reporter, John Eligon, left sports for the Metro desk.
Last year, the Nets beat, famously a career-launcher for the paper, was cut and the paper's other NBA reporter, Liz Robbins, went on book leave. (Oddly, she has yet to return even though her book is finished.) Howard Beck, one of the many dispirited Knicks reporters from last year's season in hell, was the only man The Times had to cover the NBA in 2007-08.
Finally, the paper has found its second man: Jonathan Abrams, a Clippers reporter for The Los Angeles Times, has escaped the clutches of Sam Zell and will join The New York Times' Sports section. read more »
