Q&A: Amy O’Leary on Eight Years of Navigating Digital Culture Change at The New York Times

By: Caroline O’Donovan | NiemanLab

When Amy O’Leary announced in early January that she was leaving The New York Times to become editorial director at Upworthy, there was a collective jaw-drop in the digital journalism community.

O’Leary is well known for the role she played in crafting the Times’ Innovation report, the influential (and intended to be internal) document leaked to the media press last May. Lab readers will recall the report as eye-opening and critical; in a candid speech at the Online News Association conference this fall, O’Leary remarked that, at the time, she was sure the leak was going to get her fired.