The New York Times will cease its printing its dedicated Automotive section from January 1, 2015.
The liftout, which has been a constant at the newspaper over the last twenty years, will no longer be a part of the Times’ Sunday lineup. The reason for the closure lies with falling revenue and a need to reign in costs at the storied publication.
Consumer stories will still run in the paper’s business section and the website’s Driven video series will remain. It’s unknown how many staff will be let go by this decision, but the company is in the process of cutting headcount in editorial by 100.
Executive editor Dean Baquet wrote a memo to employees last week stating, in full:
Dear Colleagues,
As I said in a previous note, we are reviewing sections of The Times as part of our effort to cut costs in the newsroom. So I regret to announce that as of the first of the year we will no longer publish a stand-alone autos section.
We will continue covering the automobile industry, of course, as evidenced by our sensational investigative reporting on the ignition switch problems in General Motors cars. And we will run consumer stories in the Business section, including regular coverage on Fridays. The Driven videos will continue online.
But despite sensational work over the years by Jim Cobb and his crew, the masthead and I concluded there is no longer an economic reason for a separate section.
Jim was there 20 years ago when the Sunday section was launched, and he has made The Times proud ever since. In the day, the insatiable demand among print advertisers had the coverage spread across several days, including Sunday. Now we’ll consolidate our print efforts on Friday, while remaining nimble on the web.
There will be opportunities in the coming weeks to single out the great work of Jim, Norman Mayersohn, Jim Schembari, Robert Peele and the many contributors, but let me start here by saying how grateful I am for two decades of imagination and dedication in making our Sunday section the best read in the business.
— Dean
Source: Capital New York
