The New York Times has decided to "reassign" several members of its arts criticism staff to what they are calling "new roles." This news was published yesterday in the Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
The critics in question are:
- Margaret Lyons, television critic
- Jon Pareles, pop/rock music critic
- Jesse Green, theater critic
- Zachary Woolfe, classical music critic
No specifics have yet been announced, beyond stating that the four will be "taking on new roles, and we will be conducting a search for critics on their beats in the weeks to come," according to Variety's quotation of the memo that has circulated at the Times.
Jon Pareles, who has been on this beat since 1988, is a legend in music journalism. Zachary Woolfe has been an extremely able chief classical music critic, a sharp-eared reviewer and graceful writer about all things opera and classical music. Will Robin, who has written for the Times over the last decade or so, writes in his newsletter about Woolfe and what he's done for classical music criticism at the Times.
It is extremely difficult to imagine who might replace Woolfe and what skills they might bring to the table that he doesn't have. What is the problem that the Times is trying to solve, here?
My best guess is that it's a combination of money and clicks: analytics programs tell the paper how many views, presumably corresponding to readers, each article has. If classical music reviews, features, and interviews aren't meeting some unknown standard, well, do they need this coverage in its current format? Do they need a classical music staff at all? (Again, what person or presentation of journalism about classical music do they think will better what Woolfe is doing?)
As far as reassignment goes, classical music critics have specific knowledge about music and musical institutions that is hard earned, through education and experience, besides being good journalists. For the Times to move a writer off the classical beat is to lose that knowledge and experience. And I can't help but think of the San Jose Mercury News reassigning Richard Scheinin, an expert writer on both classical music and jazz, to real estate.
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