Jeff Zeleny, the New York Times’ national political correspondent will leave the Times for ABC News next month where he’ll be senior political correspondent.

Zeleny tells TVNewser the decision to jump from print to TV was easy, since he hasn’t “worked for a newspaper in quite a while,” referring to the Times’ expansion into video and social.

So how did his editors take it when he told them the news?

“There’s no question that some of the editors were disappointed,” he says. But as for executive editor Jill Abramson: “She was very gracious throughout this whole process. It’s been a great opportunity at The Times. They tried to get me to stay.”

Zeleny also is bullish about his soon-to-be old medium when we asked if he thinks there will be a print edition in 10 years: “I do think there will be a print edition of the New York Times in 10 years. There’s no question that mobile has been a huge part of our audience, but there are still a lot of people who find value in the print edition.”

During an appearance at NYU’s Journalism School last night, Jill Abramson, executive editor of The New York Times discussed a variety of topics. When asked about the recent spate of buyouts and then layoffs, Abramson said it was necessary to thin things out.

“We just had a lot of layers,” Abramson explained, according to Capital New York. “The newsroom now, you need to have direct reports of all kinds, and that’s just an extra layer that we can’t afford, and I questioned whether we still needed some of those jobs.”

Abrmason also said that despite fantastic words like “f*ck” now being published in places like The New Yorker, we can all forget about finding them in the Times:

If a swear word is gonna be used and is actually consequential to the actual news in the story, which in some cases it is, we make exception. But it’s part of the tradition of the Times to use, you know, ‘Mr. Sullivan.’ It’s an elegant presentation of the news, and that’s still important to me, to keep it elegant.

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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Rebecca Howard has been named general manager of video production for the New York Times; a new role at the company. Howard comes to the Times from AOL Huffington Post Media Group, where she served as head of video development since 2010.

“Video journalism is an essential and growing component of our news report,” said Jill Abramson, executive editor of the Times, in a statement. “We will rely heavily on Rebecca’s experience in creating engaging and quality content as we expand our excellent video offerings.”

Howard’s appointment is effective February 18. She will report to Abramson and Denise Warren, general manager of NYTimes.com and senior vice president and chief advertising officer of The New York Times Media Group.

The whirlwind surrounding the New Republic continued last night as Chris Hughes, editor-in-chief and publisher of the magazine, threw a party to celebrate the glossy. Since those in the publishing business love nothing more than to hobnob with people just like them, there was a slew of big names in attendance.

Now you might be saying “I don’t care about yet another event full of media people congratulating themselves for being themselves” but we know you do! Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. So allow us to give you what you want, a list of people who went to Hughes’ shindig, via The Huffington Post.

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The next few days are going to be rough at the New York Times. Not only is the deadline for editors to accept buyouts today at 5 pm, Jill Abramson said in a memo that staffers will have to wait “a day or two after that” to know if there are going to be layoffs.

“If you think the buyout is something that works for you at this time in your life, we urge you to give the offer serious consideration if you haven’t already,” wrote Abramson, in the note obtained by Jim Romenesko. “Each buyout we record reduces the possibility of layoffs.” No pressure though!

In the meantime, two editors have decided to join the others who have accepted the Times’ offer.

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John Geddes, one of two managing editors at the New York Times, is leaving the paper. According to the Times, Geddes has accepted a buyout and will leave within a few months. Geddes has been with the Times since 1994. He became managing editor in 2003. Prior to his time with the paper, he worked at The Wall Street Journal for just over a decade.

“John Geddes is the consummate newsman with superb instincts for stories and people,” said Jill Abramson, in a statement. “We’ve been partners in the newsroom for nearly a decade. He has given his all to the Times for far longer than that. Most of all, I’ll miss his company.”

Below is Geddes’ note to colleagues announcing his departure.

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Joyce Wadler is the latest big name to take the buyout package being offered by the New York Times. The New York Observer reports that Wadler’s decision was announced in an internal memo today. Wadler, who has been with the Times for many years, plans to pursue humor writing.

Wadler joins Jonathan Landman and Jacques Steinberg, both of whom took the buyout offer that Jill Abramson was “begging and pleading” some of the Times’ top editors to accept.

The deadline for editors to make their decisions (or else) is January 24.

With the deadline for accepting the buyout package offered by the New York Times looming, the paper’s top editors are bracing for what Daily Intelligencer describes as “a three-year plan to downsize the company as it migrates to a new business model.” That plan involves realignments as well as staff and budget cuts.

According to rumors, Jill Abramson is “begging and pleading” with editors to accept the buyout so that they don’t have to make too many cuts. Those feeling the heat the most include John Geddes, Rick Berke, Gerry Marzorati, Jim Roberts and Susan Edgerly.

One top editor who is 100 percent in the clear is Larry Ingrassia, who Abramson said was going to take on a “larger role” in a memo  sent out in early December. The recent rumors back that up:

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We loved The New York Times’ amazing “Snow Fall” piece, written by John Branch. It turns out a lot of other people did, too.

According to a Times memo obtained by Jim Romenesko, the feature grabbed 3.5 million page views, was shared over 10,000 times on Twitter, and at its peak (no pun intended), was visited by 22,000 people at once.

“The Times is a premiere online destination for news and information, but rarely have we been able to create a compelling destination outside the home page that was so engaging in such a short period of time on the Web,” wrote Jill Abramson, in the memo.

For the full note, click through.