Solana Pyne promoted to video director at The New York Times

We’re excited to announce that we’re promoting Solana Pyne to video director. Throughout her career as a reporter, producer and editor, Solana has pursued strong original reporting as the basis for digital video that stands apart. At The Times, she has envisioned and embraced the kinds of video that differentiate our report by finding great opportunities in live coverage and by encouraging investigative and enterprise efforts that break news and illuminate continuing stories.

Solana has increased the desk’s focus by suggesting the pursuit of “visuals that are on the news, that break news or that make news,” and she is committed to bringing the breadth of video’s unique power “to convey scope, process and feeling to our live report.” There are a number of news events that show us what this looks like. During the 2020 election and the Derek Chauvin trial, the team delivered original stories, live streams and collaborative live work with our correspondents on the ground. In Afghanistan, video helped anchor our live visual coverage with a combination of on-the-ground reporting, verified sequences and clips that brought our readers close to the chaos engulfing the country’s capital.

And in Ukraine, the team’s coverage has been integral to the report, with urgent reporting that revealed what was happening on the ground and brought home the human toll of the conflict.

Their field work came alongside major reporting projects that helped boost our live coverage. Video has shown great initiative in these and other efforts, and much of this work has been highly collaborative — something Solana has fostered. Michael Slackman said, “Solana is an inspiring leader who in her short time as acting head of the video department has demonstrated great news judgment, a deep commitment to the safety and wellbeing of the talented video staff and a willingness and ability to work closely with other desks to produce reports built on the best the newsroom has to offer. We really look forward to working closely with her for a long time to come.”

In her role as video director, Solana will oversee the quality of news video on Times platforms and will be responsible for the success of the desk’s efforts, from news and visual investigations to field work and multimedia. She’ll also manage the department, working closely with the desk’s excellent deputies and managers: Mark Scheffler, Mike Schmidt, Sameen Amin, Whitney Hurst, Hanaan Sarhan, David Botti, Rex Sakamoto, Malachy Browne, Zainab Khan and Arman Tabatabai.

Before joining The Times, Solana founded and expanded the video team at Quartz, developing a vision for strong news coverage and excellent video quality. Before that, she was a senior correspondent and senior producer for GlobalPost. In both places, the work that she created or led won a multitude of accolades, including Murrows, a Peabody, a Polk, a Loeb and an Overseas Press Club Award.

Please join us in congratulating her as she tackles this major role.