Some Defining People of the Decade: Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

In the November, 2009 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, the editors have named The New York Times Publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. one of the 27 Brave Thinkers who are flying in the face of established convention and wisdom to drive society forward.

In a age where newspaper readership is dramatically down and where news and information is more and more disseminated in twits, blogs and online editions of paper, he has beefed up his staff of online blog moderators to 11, twice the number that the Huffington Post lists on its masthead. Though the Times stock is down to mirror the dramatic fall of revenue, he courageously is resisting laying off staff and holding fast to the principle that the traditional readers of the venerable Old Grey Lady are loyal because of the incredible breath and depth of coverage.

And the younger readers love the interactivity of instant messaging to engage in discussion on issues of the day. I recently followed a Times blog on an opinion article written by William Cohan and how perhaps the three Magi, Bernanke, Paulson and Geithner should have let Bear Stearns fail in March 2008, instead of pumping in some $29 Billion and then directing its sale to JPMorgan. About 250 people joined the blog.

Hats off to the New York Times and Arthur Sulzberger. Happy New Decade to all!