New York Times assistant managing editor Monica Drake ’94 B.A. made history in 2018 when she became the first black woman on the paper’s masthead. She had joined the paper in 1998 as an intern, later becoming a copy editor, Culture Desk writer, and senior travel editor.
As assistant managing editor, Drake has played a key role in the Times’ digital transformation, and now oversees tech and innovation projects, like the recent use of visual search for a more immersive reading experience. She also created the Times’ archival story team to bring images from the Times’ morgue to new life. Drake talked to Yale Today about the Times’ new normal as it races to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. Condensed and edited.
How has the New York Times adjusted to coverage in the midst of COVID-19?
The challenge has been getting people in position for such a broad story that’s unpredictable in so many ways. We’re all working remotely. A lot of people are going to areas where there is a decent amount of infections. We’re taking a lot of precautions. And there is the inevitable stress of covering a story while experiencing it at the same time. We’ve been very focused on the story and making sure that reporters can take breaks and take care of themselves.
This is happening simultaneously around the world. Are there specific challenges around covering this globally?
We have stringers in a lot of countries and reporters in a lot of countries, but not knowing whether you can travel to Seattle, for instance, that is something that’s kind of hard to reckon with. We’ve had issues travelling to areas before where there’s been fires or hurricanes, but this global travel restriction is an unprecedented challenge for us.
Is this the first time that everyone at the New York Times has had to work remotely?
Yes.
How has that affected the day-to-day work of reporting?
Everyone has had to figure out a system of communicating remotely in the middle of this tsunami of a story. That means people who default to in-person communication because it’s so much faster have to figure out how to simulate that through a virtual means. It’s hard to find a substitute for just turning around and saying, “Hey, I had a question about this story.” As journalists, we kind of riff off of each other, and not being able to do that is pretty hard. You can do it in your discrete departments and at pre-planned times, but sometimes the best riffing doesn’t come when you plan to do it.
In what ways did Yale prepare you for your current role?
I was an anthropology major, which has informed my career in journalism so much more than I thought it would. Just being able to take a step back, look at society and what’s happening through the widest aperture possible has been really beneficial. The focus of my major has helped me to be more dispassionate overall in thinking about news and news stories. I’ve been much more focused on how [the COVID-19 crisis] changes the way we live not just currently, but could change the way we live going forward.
Are there stories that have emerged during this crisis that you are particularly proud of?
The news reporting has been amazing, and it has been so deeply reported. We had a story last week on two women in China who were 29 years old, who both had coronavirus, and one survived and one didn’t. I think the framing of that story was very relatable. It certainly woke a lot of people up to what this virus could mean. Our podcast, The Daily, has been really good at getting people like Donald McNeil [the Times’ health and science reporter] to talk about the way that this virus impacts people, and making the basic science behind it accessible. Reporters have been so driven to tell everyone what’s happening even under the most incredible stress imaginable.
Could you talk about the point of view you’ve brought to the Times as the first black woman on the masthead?
When we’re thinking about news stories, I have a different perspective than a lot of my colleagues. Also the perspective of being someone who is not from the Northeast, who is from a small town and agricultural county [Yellow Springs, Ohio]. When I talk to journalism schools about identity, I say, “Who you are and your experience can be a superpower in journalism.” I think it’s really true. I see stories that other people don’t necessarily notice.
