Times Announces Changes in Washington

The New York Times on Wednesday announced a reorganization of its Washington bureau, including the elevation of Carolyn Ryan to bureau chief and the start of two new ventures.

In a memo to the staff, Jill Abramson, the executive editor, said that Ms. Ryan, currently the top political editor, would succeed David Leonhardt, who will head up one of the new initiatives, in a role that combines data with analytical reporting.

Ms. Ryan, 48, was named to her most recent post in May after serving as metro editor since January 2011. Before that she was the metro desk’s political editor and helped oversee the coverage of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with a high-end prostitution ring; that coverage won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for breaking news reporting. She joined The Times in 2007 from The Boston Globe, where she was deputy managing editor for local news.

In her new role as bureau chief, Ms. Ryan will continue to oversee a team of reporters in New York, along with the Washington bureau.

Mr. Leonhardt, 40, will become managing editor of a new venture that Ms. Abramson said would “be at the nexus of data and news” across a range of subjects, including economics, politics, policy, education and sports. Mr. Leonhardt’s new team is expected to include “reporters, graphics editors, economists, historians and political scientists.”

Before becoming Washington bureau chief in September 2011, Mr. Leonhardt wrote the Economic Scene column for The Times and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2011. Mr. Leonhardt joined The Times in 1999 after working at BusinessWeek and The Washington Post.

The Times is also introducing an early-morning news tip sheet, a digital product about the day’s happenings in Washington that will be supervised by Carl Hulse, currently a deputy in the Washington bureau. The tip sheet is expected to resemble the New York Today report, which provides a roundup of news and events in the New York metropolitan area.

According to the memo, the Washington report will “harvest the best tweets of bureau reporters and aggregate other elements from the Washington news report.” Mr. Hulse will also continue to write for The Times as chief Washington correspondent.

Mr. Hulse, 59, was previously the chief congressional correspondent for The Times. Mr. Hulse joined The Times in 1986 after working for The Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

According to the memo, “existing and new staff” will work on both new ventures. The new positions will be effective on Dec. 15.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 20, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the column David Leonhardt wrote before becoming the Washington bureau chief. It is the Economic Scene column, not Economic Sense.