NY Times Executive Editor Steps Down; Replacement Named

The New York Times appointed Jill Abramson as its new executive editor, marking the first time a woman has been named to the highest editorial post in the newspaper's history.

Abramson, the paper's managing editor, will succeed Bill Keller, who will become a writer for the New York Times Magazine and for the paper's Sunday opinion section.

Assistant Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief Dean Baquet will become managing editor.

Both appointments are effective Sept. 6, the New York Times Co said Thursday.

"Bill came to me several weeks ago and told me that he felt the time had come for him to step down from the role of executive editor," Times Co Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement.