In a surprise move, The New York Times is reassigning four of its top critics to new roles.
According to a memo to culture desk staff Tuesday from Times culture editor Sia Michel, which was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, the four critics: TV critic Margaret Lyons, pop music critic Jon Pareles, theater critic Jesse Green and classical music critic Zach Woolfe, will be “taking on new roles” with the venerable news outlet.
The Times is beginning a search for new critics to serve on the beats. Michel praised their work as “best in class,” while noting that “our readers are hungry for trusted guides to help them make sense of this complicated landscape, not only through traditional reviews but also with essays, new story forms, videos and experimentation with other platforms.”
The changes are enormously consequential, with all of the critics helping to guide Times readers for years. Parales, for example, has been the Times’ pop critic since 1988, and has long been one of the most influential reviewers of the music business.
“I know that these are big changes,” Michel wrote. “While it has long been the practice in the newsroom to shift the roles of reporters, editors and bureau chiefs to bring different ideas and experience to important beats and coverage areas, we’ve done this far less with our roster of critics. But it is important to bring different perspectives to core disciplines as we help our coverage expand beyond the traditional review.”
Green joined the Times in 2017, after serving as the theater critic at New York magazine. At the time, he acted as co-chief theater critic, alongside longtime critic Ben Brantley.
But when Brantley retired in 2020, Green became the chief theater critic and held a very influential position in the theater industry, as the Times reviews — and whether or not it’s a Critic’s Pick — are often viewed as being able to tip the scales for whether or not a show can succeed. The Times also features reviews from other critics including Maya Phillips, Alexis Soloski, Laura Collins-Hughes and more.
Lyons has been a TV critic at the Times since 2016, while Woolfe has been reviewing classical music for the Times since 2022.
In the memo, Michel noted that the Times needs to meet the moment of where consumers of art and popular culture are.
“We are in the midst of an extraordinary moment in American culture. New generations of artists and audiences are bypassing traditional institutions, smartphones have Balkanized fandoms even as they have made culture more widely accessible than ever, and arts institutions are facing challenges and looking for new opportunities,” Michel wrote.
Caitlin Huston contributed to this report.
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