Former NY Times editor: Leading newsroom was honor

Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson on Monday made her first public remarks since her departure — and didn’t shy away from the controversy surrounding it.

"Some of you, and now I'm talking to anybody who has been dumped ... You know the sting of losing and not getting something you badly want," she said in a commencement speech at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. "When that happens, show them what you are made of." 

She compared herself to a new university graduate, saying she felt "scared but also a little excited."

"What's next for me? I don't know. So I'm in exactly the same boat as many of you," Abramson told university’s class of 2014. The audience replied with laughter and applause.

The Times announced last week that Abramson was being replaced by managing editor Dean Baquet. Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. has denied speculation that her dismissal had to do with complaints over unequal pay or the company's treatment of women. Instead, he cited her newsroom management style.

In a statement issued Saturday, Sulzberger targeted Abramson's management skills, ticking off a list of examples including, "arbitrary decision-making, a failure to consult and bring in colleagues with her, inadequate communication and public mistreatment of colleagues."

In her commencement speech, Abramson talked briefly about her time at the helm of The New York Times but did not directly address her dismissal. She said that she did not want the "media circus" following her to take attention away from the graduates.

She said leading the paper’s newsroom was the honor of her life.

"Sure, losing a job you love hurts, but the work I revere — journalism that holds powerful institutions and people accountable — is what makes our democracy so resilient. This is the work I will remain very much a part of."

Wire services