New York Times is 'unclear' as to why its own executive editor was replaced

The New York Times on Wednesday replaced its first female executive editor, Jill Abramson, with its managing editor Dean Baquet, who becomes the first African American to hold the post.

Abramson's departure was announced by the U.S. daily's publisher Arthur Sulzberger, and the paper's own report said: "The reasons for the switch were not immediately clear."

Abramson was appointed to head the 160-year-old paper in 2011, and led it during a period during which it was seen as having weathered the transition to digital better than many competitors.

"We successfully blazed trails on the digital frontier and we have come so far in inventing new forms of story-telling," she said in a statement from the paper confirming her replacement.

"Our masthead became half female for the first time and so many great women hold important newsroom positions."

Before taking the top job, the now 60-year-old journalist had been an investigative reporter for the rival Wall Street Journal and then the head of the Times' Washington bureau from 1997.

Her replacement, Baquet, is a 57-year-old newspaper veteran and former editor of The Los Angeles Times.

"It is an honor to be asked to lead the only newsroom in the country that is actually better than it was a generation ago, one that approaches the world with wonder and ambition every day," he said.

Last year The New York Times boasted the largest daily and Sunday circulation of any seven-day newspaper in the United States, with a weekday circulation of 1,926,800 print and online versions.

According to the company's 2013 annual statement, the firm had an annual turnover of $1.57 billion.

[Image via Agence France-Presse]