NY Times: Less Editorial Oversight, More Content, Shorter Stories

Gawker gives us some amazing quotes from The New York Times’ Executive Editor Bill Keller. Among the topics:

  • More content:
    “[Bill] spoke about the “gradual reallocation of resources from print towards digital” and copy editors being moved to the day side, so that there could be a “greater flow of fresh quality edit material.”

  • Less editorial oversight:
    “We can’t let our reverence for quality become a straitjacket in new media,” he warned. “The web environment is different… We can offer guidance but we cannot insist on the same control we exercise over print.”

  • Shorter stories:
    “ur stories are too often too long… The 1200 word stories could be 800 or 900. There are editors at a Page 1 meeting boasting that a story is only 1400 words.”

  • Guesswork on profitability:
    “Someone asked how the Times plans to make money off the web. “I heartily believe we will,” Keller said. “How, is a lot more complicated.” … “There’s a phrase they use in drug and alcohol rehab—’fake it til you make it.’ That’s basically what we’re doing.”

(link via Scott Karp)

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