Kim Fararo Joins News Desk

She has helped guide coverage of so many of the world's major events over the last 20 years, has partnered with just about every desk and discipline across the report and helped transform the London newsroom into a true multi-department hub driving coverage wherever in the world.

Now, Kim Fararo is bringing all that talent, energy and wisdom to bear on the whole newsroom. She is joining the News Desk as a senior editor after a two-decade career helping build the International desk into the force it is today.

Anyone who has worked with Kim knows that she cares deeply about our report, has great news judgment, and is a tireless and truly collaborative colleague.

"Kim has great Times DNA,'' said Jim Yardley, assistant managing editor for enterprise, who worked with Kim for several years on International. "She has a keen eye for bullet-proofing stories, terrific news chops and a real sense of journalistic mission. She's also a kind soul and, to top it off, a superb dancer!"

Kim joined The Times - and the International desk - in 2006, and held a number of jobs there, including weekend editor, regional editor for Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia, and day editor. When the pandemic hit in 2020, she spent several months leading the coronavirus live briefing.

She says it is a strange twist that she remembers those crazy, scary days with some nostalgia because it was the first time she got to work across desks, teaming with an incredibly dedicated group of editors and reporters from all over the newsroom.

Kim headed to London the next year, when that city was still in deep lockdown, to become the first deputy Europe editor. She remembers her first black cab ride into a very hushed city, wondering if going at that moment was the best idea she ever had (turned out it was).

In her nearly five years there - working first with Jim and then Adrienne Carter as Europe editor - she was a central player in the evolution of that newsroom from an extension of the International desk to a multi-department hub. She also served as a mentor for countless reporters and editors.

"Whatever the biggest news story in London of the past five years - Covid, Ukraine, Gaza - Kim has been at the center of it all, a steady force, helping to guide our coverage and juggle the many moving parts," Adrienne said. "Kim is always game."

On her return to New York, Kim joined the senior leadership team on International and has been mainly focused on the Live coverage of the Iran war.

Kim started in journalism as a clerk at The Record in Hackensack. She moved on to covering towns and cops, and soon after took off for Japan in a successful gambit to be a foreign correspondent.

After freelancing in Japan, she landed a job with Newsweek covering the start of South Korea's transition to democracy and later moved to Alaska to work at The Anchorage Daily News (Kim Severson and Peter Goodman were colleagues).

Her last job before coming to The Times was as the editor of Perspective, the week-in-review section at The San Jose Mercury News.

In her new role Kim will work closely with the News Desk team: Mohammed Hadi, Randy Archibold, Jorge Arangure, Traci Carl and Steve Kenny

Please join us in welcoming Kim.

- Michael