32 | MAY 13 • 2021 

M

ichigan-born 
reporter and 
editor Rebecca 
Blumenstein is stepping into 
a new role. After a long and 
storied career in journal-
ism that has taken her from 
Newsday to the Wall Street 
Journal, Blumenstein, who 
grew up in Essexville outside 
of Bay City, is transitioning 
into a top leadership position 
as deputy editor in the pub-
lisher’s office at the New York 
Times.
Blumenstein, 54, of 
Maplewood, N.J., is a 
University of Michigan alum-
na and previously served 
as Michigan president of 
Young Judaea, a peer-led 
Zionist youth movement 
with programs throughout 
the U.S. Now, after four 
years at the Times growing 
their newsroom and cover-
age, Blumenstein is ready to 
embark on a new chapter. 
The Jewish News spoke to 
her about the transition, her 
goals in her new role and 
building a career at the his-
toric publication.

Can you tell us about your 
2017 transition to the Times?
My first job when I arrived 
at the Times was to reinvigo-
rate and elevate our business 

coverage. The Times had a 
long tradition of great inves-
tigative business journalism, 
but it was not enough of a 
daily must-read. I hired Ellen 
Pollock, the former editor 
of Business Week, to be the 
business editor, and we sig-
nificantly expanded our team, 
particularly in Silicon Valley 
and Washington. ‘Business’ is 
now one of the biggest staffs 
at the Times and because 

of our traditional strength 
in politics, we are uniquely 
suited to cover the increasing 
number of stories and issues 
at the intersection of business 
and politics. 
From there, I took a role 
managing the digital news 
desk, which runs the website 
and NYT app 24/7 around 
the world. We saw historic 
gains in readership as we 
increased our news metab-
olism and launched more 

live, continuously updated 
briefings during major news 
events.
During the relentless news 
cycle of 2020, with the pan-
demic, the unrest following 
the death of George Floyd 
and the presidential election, 
I headed a major expansion 
of our live coverage. As a 
deputy managing editor, I am 
part of the masthead of the 
Times and weigh in on other 

issues facing the organiza-
tion.
I am also head of NYT’s 
events, which have complete-
ly shifted to remote formats 
during the pandemic, which 
has allowed us to reach 
bigger audiences than ever 
before.

What are some memorable 
stories your newsroom has 
worked on during the past few 
years that you’re particularly 

proud of?
We have led the way in 
writing about how technology 
and the increasing influence 
of the tech giants is reshaping 
our world. From the sexual 
harassment issues at Uber 
under Travis Kalanick to the 
spread of misinformation, the 
Times is a leader in the highly 
competitive coverage of tech-
nology.
During the election, we 
developed a feature called 
“Daily Distortions” that 
debunked highly mislead-
ing and viral information. 
Because of the Times’ author-
ity on search, our reporting 
outranked that of the misin-
formation on issues like the 
incorrect reports of prob-
lems with Dominion voting 
machines.
I’m also proud of our 
breaking news operation. We 
are aiming to be the most 
trustworthy destination for 
breaking news, and with a 
newsroom of 1,700 reporters 
and editors around the world, 
we can do more original 
reporting in more places than 
almost any other news orga-
nization.
I must add that a story that 
is particularly memorable is 
a rare one that I wrote — a 
look at the changing politics 

PHOTO CREDIT

Michigan native Rebecca Blumenstein rises to
a new leadership role at the New York Times.

Top Journalist

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Rebecca 
Blumenstein

“WE FACE MANY CHALLENGES,
ESPECIALLY HOW TO COVER A 
COUNTRY AS DIVIDED AS 

THE U.S. IS RIGHT NOW.”

— REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN

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