Ex-Rolling Stone editor Noah Shachtman joins New York Times after controversy

The New York Times is now doing business with the former Rolling Stone editor who was dragged into the scandal over disgraced ABC News producer James Gordon Meek.

Noah Shachtman, who served as editor-in-chief of the magazine from 2021 to 2024 after serving as editor-in-chief of the Daily Beast, joins the Times as a contributing editor for its opinion section. According to Semafor, he will “write longer columns and investigative articles, with a focus on power, politics and pop culture.”

However, questions remain about Shactman’s involvement in Rolling Stone’s exclusive report on the explosive FBI raid on Meek’s home.

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Former Rolling Stone editor Noah Shachtman is joining the New York Times as a contributing writer. (Preston Rescigno/Variety via Getty Images)

In September 2023, Meek was sentenced to six years in prison for transporting and possessing child pornography. But Rolling Stone’s initial report on the FBI raid conducted in October 2022 suggested that the raid involved Meek’s work as a national security investigative producer for ABC News, focusing on allegedly classified information found on his laptop.

“Meek appears to be on the wrong side of the national security apparatus,” Rolling Stone reported at the time.

Meek abruptly resigned from ABC News after the raid.

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Shortly after Meek’s arrest in February 2023, NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik wrote his own explosive article accusing Rolling Stone of whitewashing Meek’s child pornography revelations, made by Shachtman himself.

“It should have been a coup. Instead, editorial acrimony over the way the scoop was edited led to accusations that the magazine’s brash leader had acted by overseeing coverage of someone he knew. The reporter who wrote the article, enraged, accepted a job at a sister publication two months later. And his complaints prompted a senior lawyer for the magazine’s parent company to review what happened,” Folkenflik wrote at the time.

This image provided by the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office shows James Gordon Meek in his booking photo on January 31, 2023, in Alexandria, Virginia. (Alexandria Sheriff’s Office via AP)

Folkenflik revealed that Tatiana Siegel, the journalist who broke the story of Meek’s raid and whose name appeared on the Rolling Stone report, had initially written that Meek was part of a federal child pornography investigation, but that detail was erased by Shachtman, who reportedly once considered Meek a peer with whom he was friends.

“Shachtman stepped in to edit Siegel’s story. It was rare for him to do so for his work,” Folkenflik wrote. “When Siegel detailed the seriousness of the allegations against Meek, Shachtman warned her against telling a story that included the words ‘child pornography’.”

“The accounts given by associates, colleagues and friends of the two key figures – Siegel and Shachtman – diverge here. Based on what Siegel told others, she and Shachtman agreed that the article would reflect that the FBI’s interest came from concerns about possible criminal behavior outside the scope of Meek’s job – that is, it had nothing to do with national security or journalism,” Folkenflik then continued. “Shachtman later told others that he did not believe she had properly defined her sourcing. Penske Media, Rolling Stone’s parent company, notes that the authority to make such choices for Rolling Stone’s cover rests with Shachtman.”

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Former ABC News producer James Gordan Meek was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing and transporting child pornography. (Michael Le Brecht/ABC via Getty Images)

After Shachtman assured Siegel that he would handle publishing the story so she could care for her ailing mother, “Shachtman edited Siegel’s draft to remove any suggestions that the investigation was unrelated to Meek’s reporting,” according to Folkenflik. Shachtman also asked his team to use a generic photograph of “something from the FBI” instead of a photo of Meek.

“He concluded that federal agents allegedly found ‘classified information’ on Meek’s devices,” Folkenflik wrote. “The article left many readers with the distinct impression that the investigation was linked to Meek’s reporting – which could lead to a clash between the government and the press…Colleagues and friends say Siegel said she only learned of the changes to her story after it appeared online. Associates describe Siegel as furious at what she saw as Shachtman’s interference with the independence of her reporting.”

Siegel left Rolling Stone two months later for a position at sister publication Variety. She is now a prominent writer for the California Post. His Rolling Stone article was updated in July 2023, acknowledging Meek’s guilty plea to possession of child pornography.

A New York Times spokesperson told Fox News Digital: “Noah is a skilled and experienced reporter and editor. We look forward to his contributions to our opinion report,” but did not respond to questions about Shachtman’s involvement in the Rolling Stone report.

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