The New York Times Gives Culture Critics Walking Papers

The New York Times is overhauling its lineup of entertainment critics, replacing four of its TV, music, and theater critics and offering them “new roles.”

The New York Times is replacing four of its longtime TV, music, and theater critics and offering them new roles in an overhaul of its arts and entertainment department. The news comes from an internal memo obtained by Variety.

Television critic Margaret Lyons, music critic Jon Pareles, theater critic Jesse Green, and classical music critic Zach Woolfe will all be “taking on new roles, and we will be conducting a search for critics on their beats in weeks to come,” wrote culture editor Sia Michel in a memo to staffers on Tuesday.

“We are in the midst of an extraordinary moment in American culture,” her memo continues. “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.”

“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,” wrote Michel. “Our mission is to be those guides.”

Pareles has been the chief pop critic at The NY Times since 1988, and “has had an unparalleled influence on pop music criticism, [an] expert in a dazzling array of genres,” wrote Michel. Meanwhile, Lyons, TV critic at the publication since 2016, “has helped curate television and streaming for readers through her Watching newsletter, with a knack for discovering shows that become sensations.”

Green has been the theater critic at the Times since 2017, having “championed important theater from Broadway and beyond with his incisive, witty reviews.” Finally, Woolfe began writing for the Times in 2011 and joined the staff in 2015 as a classical music editor, becoming classical critic in 2022. According to Michel’s memo, he “pioneered the 5 Minutes format and has written elegantly on everything from Maria Callas to Janacek.”

“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,” Michel explains. “But it is important to bring different perspectives to core disciplines as we help our coverage expand beyond the traditional review.”

It’s unclear what new roles the four critics have been offered or whether they will opt to move onto greener pastures.

Sia Michel joined the Times in 2007 as pop music editor before being promoted to editor of Arts & Leisure. She became deputy culture editor in 2018 and entered her current role in 2023. Before the Times, she was named editor-in-chief of Spin in 2002 and became the first woman to edit a major rock magazine.