Apparently that new Op-Ed section the New York Times launched back in June is working, because the paper just announced that it’s expanding its Opinion section on the website as well. According to a company press release, the new content will be rolling out over the next few weeks, and will include:

• Web-only op-eds
• A blog from Andrew Rosenthal that examines what people are saying about the Times’ opinions
• Short videos commenting on current events
• A political opinion blog featuring content from Timothy Egan, Charles Blow, Ross Douthat and Thomas Edsall

We’re particularly interested in Ronsenthal’s blog (opinions about opinions!) but the other features seem worth checking out as well. No doubt we’ll be hearing more about this as the features are launched, so we’ll keep you posted.

After five-plus years as a business writer, Joe Nocera is making a move at The New York Times.  Jeff Bercovici reports that Nocera will join Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman by contributing to NYT’s op-ed page.  The move makes Nocera the Times’s first new, full-time op-ed columnist since Ross Douthat replaced Bill Kristol in 2009.

Prior to joining the Grey Lady in 2005, Nocera spent over a decade as editorial director at Fortune magazine.  He has won two Gerald Loeb awards and three John Hancock awards to mark his achievements in business writing.  Nocera also was a Pulitzer Prize finalist this past year.

This year — full of flux and uncertainty about where the media is heading — has resulted in a vast number of job changes and departures across all matter of media companies and publications. In almost every field of journalism, big names have either been fired, promoted, retired, or simply moved on to more lucrative positions. Here, we take a look back at the biggest industry shakeups of 2009.

The Biggest Move in Magazines: Stephen Adler leaving BusinessWeek.
When editor Stephen Adler announced his departure from BusinessWeek this October following the magazine’s sale to Bloomberg LP, he wasn’t just making a statement, he was starting a trend. Soon he was followed by some of his former colleagues, like John Byrne and BusinessWeek‘s president Keith Fox, who decided to stay with magazine’s original parent, McGraw-Hill. (Not to mention all of those who involuntarily left the pub not long after.) It takes a lot of chutzpah to up and quit your editor gig in the middle of this turbulent media landscape, it takes even more to get your coworkers to come with you. Fortunately for Adler, he’s already landed another gig at Thomson Reuters.

Runners Up: Time.com managing editor Josh Tyrangiel comes on board as editor at Businessweek; Marie Claire‘s publisher Susan Plagemann joins Vogue; Nancy Berger Cardone of shuttered Gourmet takes Plagemann’s spot at Marie Claire; Janice Min leaves Us Weekly; Mariette DiChristina becomes Scientific American‘s first female editor-in-chief.

More after the jump

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Michael Calderone has a nice interview up with the New York Times‘ 29 year old incoming columnist Ross Douthat. Some highlights:

• “Those of us who have known him for a while have joked that his destiny was to be the conservative on The New York Times editorial page,” said associate editor Marc Ambinder.

• Douthat, who once went skinny-dipping with William F. Buckley, will be facing an audience more likely to share political views with Frank Rich than with the late National Review founder. “I’ve spent most of my life surrounded by liberals,” Douthat said, “so hopefully it won’t be a difficult adjustment.”

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After much speculation it appears the New York Times has named Ross Douthat to fill William Kristol‘s recently vacated op-ed page slot. Douthat, who is currently part of the Atlantic.com‘s stellar online line-up, had been one of the names bandied about as a possible replacement, though some wondered whether his youth, he is only 29, could hurt his chances. Not so! But also an interesting (arguably risky) pick for the Times, one which, judging from the memo sounds like it might have been made with an eye to the online world.

According to Andy Rosenthal‘s memo — in full after the jump — Douthat will be joining the Times staff in mid-April where his will “will start out primarily online, but will soon be writing with increasing frequency, and then regularity, on the Op-Ed page, in the Monday slot opposite Paul. At some point, he’ll also resume his work as a blogger.” So there you have it. If you’re not already familiar with Douthat you can currently find him here.

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All good things must come to an end. Also Bill Kristol‘s (ambivalent) time at The New York Times — an appointment that has continued to puzzle and frustrate Times readers since it was announced over a year ago. In his last column Kristol declares that “Jan. 20, 2009, marked the end of a conservative era,” a tacked on to the end of the column notes that “This is Bill Kristol’s last column.” Who the Times will pick to fill the conservative space at the paper remains to be seen (anyone have suggestions? Ross Douthat and Megan McArdle are two names being bandied around).

Over at The Daily Beast Scott Horton speculates that the reason for Kristol’s departure has nothing to do with his neo-conservative views but with more “fundamental” problems.

Kristol’s writing wasn’t compelling or even very careful. He either lacked a talent for solid opinion journalism or wasn’t putting his heart into it.

On his Twitter feed Jay Rosen remarks that “The New York Times will be poorer, not for having dumped Bill Kristol, but for not explaining — even to itself — what went wrong, why he failed. So maybe a job for Clark Hoyt this week! Meanwhile it seems Kristol has landed on his feet (sort of).

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