In a note to the Globe newsroom, Barnes said she will stay on staff as an editor-at-large and hopes to work on a fund-raising initiative focused on serving news deserts in New England.
“It’s time for me to take a break from the daily firestorm of news, consider new challenges and tend to some personal issues,” Barnes said in the email. “This is a special newsroom, full of dedicated journalists with big hearts, who are driven to deliver great journalism day in and day out — as you have these last three years. It has been my great privilege to work with you.”
In an email to Boston Globe Media employees on Friday, co-owner and CEO Linda Henry said she would share further updates about the Globe’s leadership soon.
“Over the past three years, Nancy has led the Globe newsroom with extraordinary dedication, guiding us through this historic news cycle and helping us deliver exceptional and award-winning journalism that will have a lasting impact on our community,” Henry said. “While it is a loss for her to step back, we are thrilled that she is staying with the organization.”
Barnes, who was born in Cambridge and worked as a Globe intern in college, joined the organization as its 13th editor nearly three years ago. She was the first woman to serve in the role and the first editor hired by owners John and Linda Henry, who bought the Globe from The New York Times in 2013. Brian McGrory, who preceded Barnes and stepped down in January 2023, had begun the top job prior to the sale.
Barnes previously served as the chief news executive at NPR and top editor at both The Houston Chronicle and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which has since been renamed the Minnesota Star Tribune.
At the Globe, Barnes oversaw a newsroom that was named this year as a Pulitzer Prize finalist in public service for its reporting on the Steward Health Care crisis. During her tenure, the Globe has also received national awards for its investigations into the death of Sandra Birchmore and a series re-examining the Charles and Carol Stuart murder case, as well as top honors for its digital report.
This year, the Globe chronicled the impact of the Trump administration’s policies on New England, including funding cuts that have had an outsize effect on Greater Boston’s hub for science, health research, and higher education, and the aggressive actions of immigration authorities who have swept people off the streets, including Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk. Other local stories of note include the Karen Read murder trial and a Spotlight series into police use of confidential informants.
At a time when many newsrooms are shrinking or experiencing mass layoffs, the Globe remains the largest newspaper in New England and one of the largest regional newspapers in the United States.
“It has been an honor to lead the Globe newsroom,” Barnes said in her note on Friday. “I am enormously proud of the journalism we have delivered together, during such a tumultuous time in history. The array of stories we have published is extraordinary — just this year alone.”
Since 2023, the Globe has also expanded its regional coverage, including hiring a weather team and opening a bureau in New Hampshire, as well as launching newsletters including its flagship “Starting Point” and “Varsity News,” which focuses on high school sports.
Not all of the new initiatives have been a success. The Globe launched a weekday TV show with the New England Sports Network in 2023, but canceled the program two years later and laid off four employees.
The remaining staff joined the Globe’s expanded video team, which helps produce “Boston Globe Sports Report,” a weekly sports show on NESN hosted by Globe senior NFL writer Ben Volin.
Aidan Ryan can be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com. Follow him @aidanfitzryan.
