Shakeup Among NY Times Critics

Sia Michel [pictured], former editor-in-chief of Spin magazine, current culture editor of The New York Times, has issued a directive moving four of New York’s most influential arts voices off their respective beats to be replaced by new, yet-to-be-hired ones.

Television critic Margaret Lyons, music critic Jon Pareles, theater critic Jesse Green, and classical music critic Zach Woolfe will “be taking on new roles, and we will be conducting a search for critics on their beats in the weeks to come,” she states in an internal memo reprinted in Variety.

“Our readers are hungry for trusted guides to help them make sense of this complicated landscape, not only through traditional reviews but also with essays, new story forms, videos and experimentation with other platforms,” she writes. “Our mission is to be those guides,” she continued. “As we do so, I am making some changes in assignments in the department.”

Variety