The New York Times NYT -2.07% said it assigned a top editor to develop procedures to vet stories from its audio unit, a part of the business that is growing quickly but has drawn criticism recently over its “Caliphate” series.
Cliff Levy, who has been the news outlet’s Metro editor since 2018, was promoted to deputy managing editor. He will provide guidance on an interim basis to Sam Dolnick, who oversees the paper’s audio unit as well as its film and television projects, and executive audio producer Lisa Tobin.
Mr. Levy said in an interview that “bringing newsroom sensibilities” to the audio group is part of the reason for his new assignment. Addressing the problems related to the “Caliphate” series, which caused the Times to issue a major correction in December, “is one part,” he said.
Clifford Levy, seen here in 2017, was named a deputy managing editor at the Times and will develop procedures for vetting audio content.
Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for BuzzFeed
The Times has made audio a focus in its digital expansion efforts, as podcasts grow in popularity with listeners and advertisers. U.S. ad spending on podcasts was up 14.7% in 2020 to nearly $1 billion, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
The Times’s flagship podcast, “The Daily,” is regularly among the most-downloaded podcasts. The publisher doesn’t break out its audio unit’s financial results. The unit generated about $29 million in revenue in 2019, a person familiar with the matter said, about 11% of overall digital ad revenue that year. The revenue figure was earlier reported by Business Insider.
Controversy over “Caliphate,” the Times’ prize-winning podcast from 2018 about the Islamic State, has threatened to tarnish that success story and has put newsroom managers on the defensive.
In its correction, the Times said the 12-part series gave credence to “false or exaggerated” accounts from one of its central subjects, a Canadian resident who claimed to have been involved in Islamic State executions. That individual, Shehroze Chaudhry, was arrested last September by Canadian police and charged with perpetrating a terrorist hoax. His attorney has said he will contest the hoax charge.
The Times reassigned the lead reporter on the series, star foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi. Dean Baquet, the Times’ executive editor, described the situation as “an institutional failing” in a podcast interview conducted by Michael Barbaro, host of “The Daily.” Mr. Baquet said he and his top deputies didn’t provide enough scrutiny to the project.
Critics said the Times mishandled the fallout from “Caliphate” and didn’t go far enough to address editorial lapses. The Public Radio Program Directors Association, which represents the programming interests of public media outlets, said in a Jan. 11 letter to the Times that the publisher should have disclosed that Mr. Barbaro was in a relationship with Ms. Tobin.
The letter said that it was wrong of the Times to reassign Ms. Callimachi while giving “greater visibility” to Andy Mills, an audio producer who worked on “Caliphate,” by allowing him to be a guest host on “The Daily” podcast. It also said that Mr. Barbaro had tried to influence how outside journalists reported the story.
In response, Mr. Dolnick said in a statement that the Times didn’t “see a need to make reference to Michael’s relationship with Lisa Tobin, the Executive Producer of the Audio team.”
Mr. Barbaro has apologized via social media for sending messages to journalists about their coverage of “Caliphate.”
Mr. Dolnick wrote that allowing Mr. Mills to appear on “The Daily” soon after the “Caliphate” correction was a mistake.
Efforts to reach Mr. Barbaro and Mr. Mills were unsuccessful. Ms. Callimachi declined comment.
In an interview, Abby Goldstein, president and executive director of the Public Radio Program Directors Association, said she believes that at least four public radio stations have either removed or suspended “The Daily” from their broadcasts.
Podcast revenues are projected to increase an additional 55% this year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, as advertisers increase spending with the expected easing of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Times has continued to expand, building on the success of “The Daily,” adding high-profile podcasters including veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher and policy journalist Ezra Klein from Vox Media Inc.
The rise of podcasting has resulted in a flurry of deals. The New York Times last year acquired the maker of the hit podcast “Serial” for approximately $25 million in cash plus $9.3 million of contingent considerations. The Times also bought Audm, a subscription-based audio app that focuses on long-form journalism.
Amazon.com Inc. agreed to purchase podcast producer Wondery last year for about $300 million, and Spotify Technologies SA in 2019 purchased Gimlet Media, a podcast producer, for more than $200 million. The Wall Street Journal and Gimlet Media co-produce “The Journal” podcast, which focuses on money, business and power.
Asked how long he believes he’ll work with the audio group, Mr. Levy said, “It’s not a drive-by assignment. It’s much deeper than that.”
Mr. Dolnick and Ms. Tobin both said in interviews they saw Mr. Levy’s new role as a sign of institutional support going forward.
“We were a wildly successful startup,” said Mr. Dolnick. “We need to become a core part of the Times. It means having the right processes for ambitious projects and management relationships that tie us to the core new efforts of the paper. Cliff will help us with that transition.”
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
