The New York Times: Patrick Healy joins the newsroom masthead

Patrick Healy

Our deep reporting, expert storytelling and high standards find a wide and appreciative audience even in the most polarized political moments. Yet it’s also clear that we can reach more people, build greater trust and combat misinformation when we are clear and transparent about the range, rigor and intent of our reporting and the people who produce it. Simply put: In today’s environment, we often need to take a more active role in showing and explaining how and why we do our work. And we need a creative, forward-thinking editor to lead that effort.

We’re excited to announce that Patrick Healy will join the newsroom masthead as assistant managing editor, overseeing Standards and Trust and focusing on elevating and protecting our journalistic reputation.

Patrick will harness the efforts already underway in the newsroom, including the work of Standards, which upholds our independence, ethics and other essential journalistic practices, and that of Trust, a newer team that has taken innovative steps to make our journalism and the process behind it clearer. Susan Wessling will continue to serve as Standards editor.

Working with these teams as well as others around the newsroom and company, Patrick’s mission will be to develop new ways to help the public better understand our journalistic process and decisions, whether it’s explaining why we covered a story, showing what went into our reporting or grappling with our thorniest editorial questions. This work could take many forms — text, video, audio, newsletters and more — because we want it to feel intertwined with, rather than separate from, the journalism itself. We also expect that it will extend beyond our own platforms and reach new audiences.

In this role, Patrick will also work with the rest of the masthead and our colleagues in Opinion and Communications to engage with the public about our journalism, including addressing criticism.

We’re lucky to have Patrick in this new role. He brings exceptional news judgment, a curiosity about how readers engage in a changing media ecosystem and a relentless drive to get the story right. Just as important, he is a generous colleague and leader, as well as a true champion of our journalistic mission and values.

For the last four years, Patrick has served as deputy editor for Opinion, where his leadership, coverage ideas and journalistic judgment made a big impact across the report. His energy, fairness and thoughtfulness made a big impact on his colleagues and writers as well.

He’s worked closely with the columnist and the guest essay teams to ensure a diversity of voices and perspectives across the ideological spectrum. He created franchises, experimented with new formats and excelled at bringing out the voices of others, from round-table conversations with columnists, to the weekly podcast series with Opinion writers across the ideological spectrum, to his focus groups with Americans from all walks of life.

“Patrick has been an incredible partner to me,” said Kathleen Kingsbury. “There’s no one better suited for his new role.”

Before Opinion, Patrick served as the Politics editor, where he brilliantly led the team through the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential race. He navigated not only the contentious political climate during those historic races, the pandemic and more, but also brought fresh thinking to the ways our readers experienced our political journalism with innovations across live coverage, the Meet the Candidates video series, and coordination on convention, debate and election night coverage.

Patrick also worked in Culture as a deputy editor, and covered education, New York City, Broadway and the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections as a reporter. Prior to joining The Times, he worked at The Boston Globe, where he did stints in Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel. He’s the recipient of the Livingston Award and a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Patrick will begin his new role in June, and will have more to share about his team and work. In the meantime, please join us in congratulating him.