The New York Times has named Carolyn Ryan its political editor. Ryan was most recently the paper’s metro editor. Wendell Jamieson, most recently deputy metro editor, will succeed Ryan as metro editor.

In a memo announcing the changes, the Times’ executive editor Jill Abramson and managing editor Dean Baquet wrote, “While we may be cutting short her fabulous run as Metropolitan Editor, it seems only natural to turn to Carolyn to be our next political editor and lead our coverage. Yes, we are beginning earlier than usual, but with a mayoral race, the Clintons, an ambitious governor, congressional races and the walk up to 2016, it seems urgent to have a full-time political chief and Carolyn is raring to go.”

The full note from Abramson and Baquet is below.

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Jill Abramson was widely praised when she was named the new executive editor of The New York Times. But now, oh how things have changed! At least, according to Politico. In a report citing “a dozen current and former members of the editorial staff,” Abramson is labeled as “condescending,” “stubborn,” “impossible,” and “very, very unpopular.”

Interestingly enough, the piece starts with an anecdote about Dean Baquet — the only non-anonymous staffer who spoke with Politico —  slamming his hand against Abramson’s office wall and acting like a petulant child. But never mind that! Abramson is the boss. And she’s a woman. So let’s focus on how mean she is:

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The New York Times has named Rick Berke senior editor and director of video content development. We first learned of Berke’s move late last month after the dust had settled from the buyouts. Berke was most recently an assistant managing editor.

“Rick will draw on his deep knowledge of the newsroom, his ability to nurture talent and his eye for a great story to come up with original and compelling content that reflects the highest standards of our journalism,” said Jill Abramson and Dean Baquet, in a memo to staffers.

The full note from Abramson and Baquet is below.

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The New York Times is dismantling its environment desk and reassigning its two editors and seven reporters. Dean Baquet, managing editor at the Times, told Inside Climate News that the decision was made to shut the desk down because environmental news is no longer a separate thing from other news items.

Environmental articles, Baquet explained, were now “partly business, economic, national or local, among other subjects. They are more complex. We need to have people working on the different desks that can cover different parts of the story.”

Those that have focused their careers on “green news” felt shutting down the desk was alarming. ”Dedicated teams bring strength and consistency to the task of covering environment-related issues,” Beth Parke, executive director of the Society of Environmental Journalists, told Inside Climate News. “It’s always a huge loss to see them dismantled. It’s not necessarily a weakening to change organizational structure, but it does seem to be a bad sign. I will be watching closely what happens next.”

There has been no word on if the Times will shutter the Green Blog, which updates daily with environmental news.

Mark Mazzetti, a reporter with The New York Times, must need to brush up on journalism ethics. That’s the only reason we can come up with to explain why he leaked a Maureen Dowd column to the CIA.

According to Politico, Mazzetti’s communication with Marie Harf, a CIA spokesperson, was regarding Dowd’s op-ed that criticized the White House for not making a bigger deal out of President Barack Obama’s handling of the mission that eventually led to Osama bin Laden being killed. Dowd’s piece was set to run after a movie about the mission — Zero Dark Thirty — hit theaters. In an email, Mazzetti writes, “This didn’t come from me… and please delete after you read. See, nothing to worry about.”

One would think Mazzetti has plenty to worry about now, but nope. Dean Baquet, the managing editor of the Times, thinks all is well. “I know the circumstances, and if you knew everything that’s going on, you’d know it’s much ado about nothing,” Baquet told Politico. “I can’t go into in detail. But I’m confident after talking to Mark that it’s much ado about nothing.” Hmmm… Maybe it’s us who need to brush up on ethics?

The New York Times has recently come under fire by members of Congress for publishing stories that they felt compromised national security. As Politico notes, when the Times ran stories on President Obama’s “kill list” and backing of cyber attacks, John Kerry said “there is a serious question whether or not [the Times articles] served our interest and whether the public had to know.” Others Senators who called out the Times include John McCain, Peter King and Lindsay Graham. The Times’ Dean Baquet was quick to defend the paper.

“Both the rise and use of drones, and the increased use of cyberwarfare, are the kinds of issues that we have a public service mission to surface so they can be part of a national debate,” Baquet, the paper’s managing editor, told The Huffington Post. “That’s our job.”

Baquet went on to nail the Times’ critics for, well, for doing what politicians do best. “I wonder if only Washington is having the debate about [the stories'] timing, as opposed to what they actually said,” he pondered.

In today’s New Yorker profile of Jill Abramson, it’s revealed that when it came time to name a replacement for Bill Keller at the New York Times, Abramson was seen as the frontrunner by Publisher Arthur Sulzberger. However, it was Abramson’s infamous assertiveness that ended up sealing the deal.

After Sulzberger had narrowed down his choices to three candidates — Abramson, Dean Baquet, and the editor of the Boston Globe, Martin Baron — he had dinner with each individually.

It was at this time that Abramson’s frankness separated her from the pack:

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Dick Stevenson has been named Political Editor, a new desk at The New York Times. According to Politico, Stevenson will divide his time between D.C. and here. Here’s a snippet of the memo sent out to Times staffers:

As head of a newly formed Political Desk, Dick will be focused entirely on our campaign coverage. He will have two deputies, Gerry Mullany and Paul Volpe. In addition to overseeing the full-time political reporters and editors, Dick will be something of a collaborator-in-chief, closely coordinating with the Washington Bureau and other desks involved in political coverage.

Stevenson will report to Jill Abramson, Dean Baquet and John Geddes.

David Leonhardt is expected to be named the New York Times’ Washington Bureau Chief, according to Politico. Dean Baquet, the current Washington Bureau Chief, will become Managing Editor under Jill Abramson, reports The Huffington Post.

Leonhardt has been with the Times since 1999, and is well-respected by his colleagues. Already, speculation has begun that Leonhardt will one day become Executive Editor, following the same path that Abramson took.

Abramson is expected to make a formal announcement some time today.

UPDATE:
It’s official.