Red Pen Meets Gray Lady: Managing Editors of The New York Times, Marc Lacey and Carolyn Ryan, will face a sea of red-shirted staff on Tuesday as contract negotiations between the paper and the union formally begin. (Photo courtesy of Celeste Sloman for The New York Times.)
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In tonight’s edition, we have a curtain-raiser to what will be one of the most intriguing (and potentially consequential) media labor stories of 2026 – The New York Times contract negotiations with the Guild will kick off Tuesday, and we have reporting from inside the Times building about what management – and their journalists – will be fighting for.
Also, tonight, just when you thought it was safe to go back on Substack, Ryan Lizza is about to publish the series finale of his every cough and spit behind-the-scenes account of his relationship with Olivia Nuzzi. Meantime at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, guests have been buzzing about a series of departures from one media company.
Plus, Versant gives staff some unexpected good news, The California Post makes another poach from The Daily Mail, and a series of shuttered tabloids have been bought by a company with one infamous media figure playing a hand in the deal.
Finally, it’s Thursday, which means Journo Jobs is back. Tonight, we have gigs at the NYT, NBC News, CBS, CNN, Bloomberg, and The New Yorker.
Mentioned tonight: Mark Lazarus, A.G. Sulzberger, Joe Kahn, David Remnick, Jordi Hays, John Coogan, Ryan Lizza, Olivia Nuzzi, Bari Weiss, Justin Smith, Ben Smith, Maxi Tani, Tony Dokoupil, Tim Davie, Brian Morrissey, Keith Poole, Nick Papps, Barclay Crawford, Julia Black, Michael Calderone, Huw Edwards, Charlotte Tobitt, Jessica Toonkel, Lauren Thomas, Michael Grynbaum, James Robertson, Oliver Darcy, Michael Savage, Emily Bell, Richard Rushfield, Susan DeCarava, and more.
All The News That's Fit To Bargain
(Exclusive.) On Tuesday morning, New York Times journalists will wear red t-shirts and come face to face with key members of the masthead, Managing Editors Marc Lacey and Carolyn Ryan, as they kick off bargaining negotiations for their new contract.
The Times – in a strategic move to avoid a prolonged period of negotiations (the last contract talks went for over two years before a deal was inked) – offered staff a series of proposals back in October.
A guaranteed wage increase of 3 percent each year over the three-year period of the contract. A 10 percent increase to its supplemental annual contribution to the Times-Guild benefits fund. A year-one wage increase that would kick in as soon as the contract was ratified. And a nice little sweetener: a tasty $2,000 additional signing bonus once the deal was done.
But there was a catch – what members of the Times Guild have described to Breaker as the “ticking-time bomb” contract…
In Plain Sight
(Exclusive.) Ryan Lizza is expected to publish the final installment in his Olivia Nuzzi bamboo series in the next 24 hours. The final chapter will be the ninth in the tell-all series about the backstory to the messy public breakup of the former D.C. power couple. Meanwhile, Lizza will appear on the Semafor podcast Mixed Signals with Ben Smith and Maxi Tani tomorrow…
While Comcast spin-off Versant’s stock market debut has completely flopped, with shares sliding around 13% (although Versant had expected the first few weeks of trading were going to be volatile), Breaker has learned that CEO Mark Lazarus told Versant employees they will receive…