In a move that shows the increasing importance of the Web as a source of news for readers, The New York Times said today that it’s night rewrite team would be moved off the Metro desk to become part of the Web newsroom and the Continuous News Desk.

Nieman Journalism Lab has the memo sent today by Digital News Editor Jim Roberts and Deputy Political Editor Gerry Mullany announcing the change.

The transition of the Times Continuous News Desk will be led by Anahad O’Connor, Derrick Henry and Sarah Wheaton — “One of them will be on duty each night of the week,” the memo promises.

“These three will continue to perform many of the traditional tasks of night rewrite, like making metro cop checks, watching the late news and jumping on the big breaking story for both print and the Web,” the memo went on. “But their canvas will be broader: Can The Lede blog use an update at 8 p.m.? What about reaction to an Obama press conference for The Caucus? And bending traditional job definitions, how about getting audio to go with coverage of the latest political scandal in Albany? We also hope they can fill in gaps in Web coverage on running foreign stories, serving as a transition between the early CND reporters in New York and Mark in Hong Kong.”

Meanwhile, daytime activities will not be affected. “The changes will not affect the veteran big gun of dayside rewrite — Bob McFadden — who will continue to be part of the metro desk,” the memo said.