New York Times’ Sunday Review to debut June 26

After months of planning, the New York Times' newest section, the Sunday Review, will debut June 26. The date was confirmed in an email invitation for a June 23 preview breakfast sent to media reporters Wednesday afternoon. During that session, editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal, op-ed editor Trish Hall, outgoing executive editor Bill Keller and newly named opinion columnist Frank Bruni will show off the Sunday Review, slated to replace the Times's opinion-and-analysis section, the Week in Review, for the first Time next Thursday. (Times obsessives did get some early background on the project courtesy of a report by HuffPo's Michael Calderone in May.)

The most striking immediate innovations in the new section are visual. The design overhaul will include long-form opinion pieces by the Gray Lady's marquee columnists appearing on the front page alongside traditional reporting from Times beat journalists.

The section debuts amid a period of considerable staff turnover on the Times' opinion desk. A handful of op-ed editors have left to work on Bloomberg's new opinion venture, while longtime scribes like Frank Rich and Bob Herbert have thrown in the towel, making space for the likes of Bruni, Keller and business columnist Joe Nocera. Keller is expected to become a regular Sunday Review contributor after he steps down from the executive editor slot on Sept. 6.

As for the content, "The evolving idea is that the subjects could indeed vary widely," Rosenthal told HuffPo last month. The invitation likewise proclaims: "Sunday Review will offer new features and a new way of presenting our finest analytical and opinion writing."

(Mark Lennihan, file/AP)