• by Ray Schultz , April 11, 2024

The New York Times has lived up to its promise to create the role of editorial director to lead its Opinion team: It has hired Matthew Rose, formerly of The Wall Street Journal, opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury announced on Wednesday. 

Previously, Rose was chief enterprise editor at The Wall Street Journal, where he oversaw coverage of stories such as Donald Trump’s payoffs to Stormy Daniels. That group won a Pulitzer Prize, one of two garnered under his leadership. 

“Matthew will be a key part of my leadership team, joining Patrick Healy, Meeta Agrawal, Brian Zittel; Meeta was promoted to editorial director for Special Projects, Graphics and Photography in December, and Brian to managing editor for Opinion,” Kingsbury writes.

Kingsbury adds: "For this new position, we interviewed a diverse range of exceptional candidates, and Matthew stood out for his intellectual rigor and curiosity, his ambition and his reputation as an excellent colleague and responsive manager.”

Rose served as an editor for the Journal in Washington, holding the title of deputy bureau chief. He also was an editor on the Page One desk, a media reporter in New York and a technology reporter in London.

Kingsbury also shared this opinion about Rose: “'Matthew was a vital voice for pushing the Journal's report forward digitally,’” one of his references told me, “but where he truly shines is in helping to generate sophisticated ideas and somehow managing to elevate them even further with his edits.” In other words, the lifeblood of Opinion’s success.”