Joe Kahn on Building the Ultimate Destination for Digital Journalism

New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn said The Times is working to build the ultimate destination for digital journalism that's focused on telling important stories in the forms that people want them.

"If you like to listen, if you like to watch, we will give you a full journalistic experience in those forms," Kahn said at the Axios's Media Trends Live event on Thursday in New York City. "If you prefer to watch TikTok style, but with really good journalism to watch, you can do that inside the New York Times app. If you want to play a game after you read the top stories, Games is right there."

Asked for his reaction to President Donald Trump's lawsuit against The New York Times, Kahn said: "Well, he's wrong on the facts. He's wrong on the law. And we'll fight it, and we'll win."

He also dismissed the idea that The Times would settle the suit. "I don't think the president of the United States should be suing media organizations for libel, full stop," he said. "I think that's wrong. But I especially think it's wrong when he's wrong on the facts, when he's wrong about the story, when he misunderstands the protections that the law offers to media organizations under the Supreme Court's interpretation of libel law, and I think it's incumbent on us to fight that to the end."

With authoritarianism, global conflict and polarization fueling attacks on the free press around the world, Kahn said The Times is evolving its journalism to show readers the process behind the reporting.

"We believe that in this era of, as you described hyper polarization, where you have people coming at you from multiple angles and multiple sides, and trying to kind of tear down the institution, we have to do a better job of opening up our process, explaining what we're doing and why we're doing it, showcasing the expertise of the journalists who are involved in that work, how we put things together, how things get edited," he said.