The New York Times is staffing up in video

"The new hires include Robert Libetti ( 2025 Nieman fellow), the former head of documentaries at Brut America, two video producers previously at Vice News, and a short-form video journalist from The Boston Globe. A decade after the much-ballyhooed "pivot to video," news publishers are increasingly embracing vertical video with in-app "watch" tabs and homepage features, as Nieman Lab staff writer Hanaa' Tameez has chronicled. Several Nieman Lab Predictions for Journalism 2026 anticipated even more (especially short-form) video in the new year."

"One of the world's most successful news companies seems to think it's the right direction. With controversial culture desk changes, the Times marked a shift from "text-based reviews to more personal, video-driven tastemaking for the TikTok age," as Semafor reported last year. It's also made moves to transform its podcast hosts into video stars. New York Times tech journalist and Hard Fork cohost Kevin Roose recently shared his resolution for 2026 is to "get good at short-form video.""

"Every social media experience is now becoming dominated by video and specifically short-form video. And I have been observing this from afar for several years, feeling like, oh, someone should actually get good at this, who is a journalist. Because the people who are good at it are generally not journalists. The people who are going viral on these platforms are generally not doing it because they want to get good, accurate true information out into the world. There's a lot of low-quality, short-form video out there."

The New York Times hired eight new journalists for its video department while 14 video-related roles remain open. The hires include Robert Libetti, the former head of documentaries at Brut America, two producers from Vice News, and a short-form video journalist from The Boston Globe. News publishers are increasingly embracing vertical and short-form video with in-app "watch" tabs and homepage features. The Times has shifted some culture coverage toward personal, video-driven tastemaking and is turning podcast hosts into video-facing personalities. Kevin Roose resolved to "get good at short-form video," noting that social media is dominated by short-form content and that many viral creators are not journalists, producing much low-quality video.

Read at Nieman Lab