Sam Sifton Is Our New Host of The Morning

Over the last several years, The Morning has emerged as one of our front pages, an indispensable daily guide through the news for its audience of 16 million people.

Since David Leonhardt joined Opinion, we've been exploring what's next for our flagship newsletter. We heard one thing over and over again: "You should get someone like Sam Sifton to write it."

So after a thorough search and much reflection, we're delighted to announce that none other than Sam Sifton will be the next writer, host and anchor of The Morning. In his new role, Sam will serve as a guide through the report and as a proxy for our readers, helping them understand the biggest stories of the day.

We couldn't imagine a better voice to take the helm of our flagship newsletter. For two decades, Sam has climbed not a career ladder but a jungle gym, taking on remarkably different roles across our newsroom and excelling at all of them, much to the benefit of our report and readers. Since 2002, he's served as Food editor, Culture editor and National editor, the restaurant critic and and a columnist for The New York Times Magazine. He was also the founding editor of NYT Cooking. Most recently, as assistant managing editor, he's overseen all of our culture and lifestyle coverage, pulling together news and service operations into a successful expression of our journalistic mission.

Simply put, you'd be hard-pressed to find a journalist with more range. Sam is just as comfortable walking readers through a political stalemate in Washington as he is explaining how to make roast chicken Provençal. He has also been a creative force in pioneering new forms of storytelling and service journalism. And he's a generous colleague and true champion of our journalistic mission and values.

"In writing The Morning, Sam will be an incredible ambassador for our report," said Carolyn Ryan, managing editor. "His breadth and depth on so many topics will be a huge asset for our newsroom and readers."

As the lead voice of the Cooking newsletter, he has been one of our newsroom's most prolific, talented and vibrant writers, sharing his stroll through Cleveland's West Side market, delivering a Thanksgiving pep talk or nudging home cooks toward improvisation. Knitting together recipes, dinner ideas and tips with a side of news, culture and conversation, Sam's emails arrive like letters from an old friend. In fact, his writing for the Cooking newsletter is so beloved that the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale gave him an honorary degree for delivering "a secular sermon" to his readers.

As he takes on one of the newsroom's highest profile roles, Sam will be stepping away from his work on the masthead. Under his watch, the culture and lifestyle desks have become a working team, deepening our connection with readers and the impact of our coverage. We expect that to continue and we'll have more to share.

We're grateful to Adam Kushner, and the whole Morning team for guiding our readers through so many big news stories with such creativity and vigor over these last several months. We look forward to seeing what the new partnership of Sam and the Morning team dream up next.

Sam will begin writing for The Morning later this fall. Please join us in congratulating him.

- Joe and Sam D.