New York Times Shakeup Produces First Female Exec Editor, Jill Abramson

Big shakeup at The New York Times brings the Gray Lady its first female executive editor, Jill Abramson. It's no surprise, but it does represent a significant and historic change.

Abramson, 57, a native New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize winner, had been the Times' managing editor -- a newsroom leader long anticipated in this new role. She gained considerable fame when she testified in the perjury trial of Scooter Libby, United States v. Libby. She was called as a defense witness to undercut the credibility of Judith Miller.

The paper announced Thursday that Abramson will succeed the widely respected Bill Keller, 62. According to a story in Politico, the change might have been all Keller's idea, but he has no intention of retiring and will remain at the Times as an opinion writer. Keller has recently been writing a column for the The New York Times Magazine and has taken a number of public, combative positions, "picking fights with Arianna Huffington and gleefully zinging Fox News." The Times' powers-that-be weren't always thrilled.

Dean Baquet, the papers assistant managing editor and Washington bureau chief -- he's the acknowledged newspaper-world folk hero who refused to cut staff as editor of the Los Angeles Times -- will replace Abramson as managing editor.

Politico claims that having a woman and an African-American in the top two jobs in one of the worlds most influential newspapers is "potent symbolism." Besides, "the move represents the rise of a new regime with deep political experience, since both Abramson and Baquet have taken a turn leading the newspapers Washington bureau."

Abramson, who has been with the Times since 1997, firmed up her credentials to lead a newsroom in the new era a year ago, when she took a break from her managing editor duties to immerse herself in digital operations and technology.