The New York Times Brings Sam Sifton Back To Dining, Drops Diner's Journal

Recent leadership changes at The New York Times announced today will bring former dining critic Sam Sifton back to the food scene, and even more so into the digital world.

Capital New York reports that Jill Abramson has announced some significant leadership changes, as the company continues to develop new digital strategies. Most notably for the food world, Sifton will leave the National editor position to head up an online digital magazine, "a lean back read that will include new, multimedia narratives in the tradition of Snow Fall and last weekend's compelling account of the Arizona fire, as well as some of the best reads published during the previous week," Abramson said in an email to the staff.

Secondly, Sifton will return to food as a food editor and writer for a "new dining news product," Abramson said. The original dining section led by Susan Edgerley will continue on, and Abramson expects partnerships between The New York Times Dining section and this new venture.

Details for the upcoming "dining news product" are unknown; In an email to Grub Street, Sifton wrote, "All I'll say for now is that we're hoping to do great work for our readers and to help them cook and eat better along the way." In the meantime, current Weekend editor Alison Mitchell will take over National editor duties. Head on over to Capital New York for the full memo (including other leadership changes).

Update: The newspaper's website has also killed their Diner's Journal blog, saying in a post, "Today the Dining section is ending the blog in order to consolidate all of our food coverage on the main Dining page, creating a single destination for readers." Regular Diner's Journal features like Recipe Lab, What's for Dinner?, and Restaurant Takeaway will be published on the main Dining page.