‘We Were Arrogant’

SPIEGEL: In May, your internal innovation report was leaked along with its harsh conclusion that the New York Times’ „journalistic advantage” is shrinking. Did you underestimate your new digital competitors?

Baquet: Yes, I think we did. We assumed wrongly that these new competitors, whether it was BuzzFeed or others, were doing so well just because they were doing something journalistically that we chose not to do. We were arrogant, to be honest. We looked down on those new competitors, and I think we’ve come to realize that was wrong. They understood before we did how to make their stories available to people who are interested in them. We were too slow to do it.

Interviu cu Dean Baquet, New York Times Editor in Spiegel.