BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith is leaving the company to join The New York Times as its media columnist, stepping into the role once held by the late David Carr.
Smith announced the news today to staff at BuzzFeed minutes before the news broke via NBC’s Dylan Byers.
His last day will be in March, and a successor has not been named. Smith will replace Jim Rutenberg at the Times, who shifted to a writer at large position.
Smith left Politico in 2012 to run BuzzFeed’s burgeoning editorial operation. In 2016, the company created a separate BuzzFeed News division under Smith, which launched its own URL as BuzzFeedNews.com in 2018. During Smith’s tenure, BuzzFeed News published the now infamous Steele dossier, as well as major investigative pieces ranging from Russia’s targeted assassination on British soil to actor Anthony Rapp’s allegation that Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance toward him when Rapp was 14.
Smith’s departure comes a year after BuzzFeed underwent a punishing round of layoffs that dismantled BuzzFeed News’ entire National and National Security desks, and severely reduced its entertainment news coverage. In the ensuing months, Smith presided over an arduous negotiation process to recognize the newly formed BuzzFeed News Union that insiders say sapped morale at the company, and seemingly put Smith at odds between his staff and BuzzFeed founder and CEO, Jonah Peretti. That union announced on Jan. 27 that it started its first official day of bargaining for an employment contract.
The timing of Smith’s departure is something of a surprise, given that it comes just as the Democratic primary season kicks into full gear. In his email to staff, which Smith posted to Twitter, Smith said he was “eager for a spell of writing and reporting and thinking,” and that Peretti “fundamentally believes in news and has proven again and again that he’ll stand up for the toughest stories, about anyone.”
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