JONATHAN TORGOVNIK/GETTY IMAGES
A view of the newsroom at The New York Times in 2008.
have cared, in an affirmative way. I realized afterward that he was able
to correct people who
were being thoughtless
because he had the experience of being gay and
thus was more sensitive
to the AIDS epidemic.”
Josephs’s death was a
big blow to many at the
paper, but Josephs, like
Barrios, was not a major
force in the newsroom;
he’d been with the pa-
per on and off throughout the early and mid
‘80s and hadn’t worked
in The Times offices
since 1987.
Schmalz, on the other
hand, had a violent seizure right under everyone’s nose. And though
he’s now stepped down
as deputy national editor, he’s working at The
Times every day in the
position of assistant national editor in charge of
projects, providing the
top brass with front-row
seats to the most hor-
rific epidemic in America. He’s someone they
know well, who’s been
in the newsroom of The
Times for 20 years — a
wonder boy, admired by
many of the executives.
“He’s a tremendously
talented journalist and
a very good friend,” says
current publisher Sulzberger. For several years
Schmalz has socialized
with Sulzberger and his
wife — regularly tak-