We’re not even one month into the new year, and already we’ve told stories of Russia and Ukraine, the Omicron advance, voting rights and the legacy of Sidney Poitier. We have interviewed senators, refugees, school children and ER doctors. We have produced a cooking series, a guided meditation and reporters’ notebooks on everything from a TikTok mystery to finding hope in the apocalypse. We’re gearing up for new seasons of “Modern Love” and “Still Processing,” along with new programming for our app.
I am awed by your energy, your creativity, your dedication, and the connection you have forged with millions of listeners every day.
When I stepped into this role six months ago, I had three major priorities for the newsroom team. One was to get to know the people I didn’t know, how you work and collaborate, your ambitions and your experiences. The second was to support the ongoing efforts to build sustainable, equitable and transparent systems that allow you to do that work. And the third was to position you all to do even more creative work in even more formats — in the app, on “The Daily,” in shows, and in new programming yet to be invented.
Today, I’m excited to share staffing changes that will further our progress on all these fronts. This group of leaders will be dedicated to accelerating our enterprise reporting and supporting a culture that allows everyone to do their best and most fulfilling work.
Larissa Anderson, a gifted editor who has produced some of our most memorable work and has helped shape the sound and culture of audio at The Times, will become deputy director of Audio. Larissa is an accomplished story editor who also cares deeply about training and people development, and in this new role, she’ll be my key partner in the day-to-day running of the department and looking ahead to future NYT Audio programming. She will continue to support “The Daily,” specifically in training, recruiting, standards, staffing and long-term growth. She will also work closely with Wendy Dorr’s team and Dave Shaw to ensure the successful development of news and features in the NYT Audio app. Larissa will also oversee the newsroom engineering team and build on existing producer and training programs, extending these programs across all of audio, and partnering with leadership to create transparent and accessible career paths. Larissa’s hit list is long and varied; she has helped shepherd some of our most compelling audio projects, including “Day X,” “Rabbit Hole,” and “1619”, and many noteworthy episodes of “The Daily,” like “The Fall of Afghanistan,” “How Trump Really Got Rich,” “The Field: The Specter of Political Violence,” and “A Criminal Underworld of Child Abuse.”
Mike Benoist will become a deputy editor for “The Daily,” joining Lisa Chow’s leadership team alongside Paige Cowett and Alex Young. Mike came to NYT Audio after a long career as a magazine editor every writer wanted to work with. Since coming to Audio, his work on “Day X” and “The Daily” (most recently, “A Righteous Strike” with Matthieu Aikins, “The Civilian Casualties of America’s Air Wars” with Azmat Khan), has shown him to be a creative and dedicated audio editor with solid news judgment, a deep understanding of story mechanics and a hunger for ambitious narratives. He’s also a respected manager who makes room for producers to find their own voices. In this new role, he will work with Lisa to conceive and edit high-impact stories, manage editors and producers, develop coverage priorities, greenlight episodes and chart out future growth.
Anita Badejo will become a supervising editor for “The Daily.” Anita came to NYT Audio an accomplished editor and a beloved manager, having produced dozens of original stories and live shows at Pop-Up Magazine, and worked with established and emerging writers, audio producers, filmmakers and photographers. In her time on the team, she’s edited remarkable stories (“The Unlikely Pioneer of mRNA Vaccines,” “A Nursing Home’s First Day Out of Lockdown,” “The Decision of My Life pt. 2”) and overseen our Holiday updates. We’re excited that in this new role, she’ll not only continue to edit episodes of “The Daily,” but will also lead “The Daily’s” efforts on recruiting, staff development and training, including identifying new opportunities for team members to grow and develop.
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