‘New media doesn’t break stories. It draws on content of old media. I place highest value on breaking stories’

It was a funny occasion in my life because a lot of people who were not particularly distressed to see me leave, welcomed me back like some kind of reborn saint. My theme when I returned was that we are just going back to work and we are going to do things the way we know was the right way to do them and stop talking about ourselves. I thought my task was to get the New York Times to forget about the New York Times for a little while. It was 2003 and America was already in Iraq. I was also trying to push authority down, because one of the features of the previous regime was that there were a lot of edicts out there and people were afraid to do things without making sure that the guys on top were going to approve it in advance. So I was trying to get people to calm down and do their work in the way they are supposed to.

•AASTHA MANOCHA: What do you have to say about the difference in philosophy between you and your successor, Howell Raines?

•COOMI KAPOOR: What is the guiding philosophy of the New York Times which makes it such a standard of excellence in journalism?

Basically, the New York Times covered everything — the whole world, culture, business and finance, sports, everything. And did it in a responsible way with its own reporting and a high standard of journalist excellence. It was a general interest newspaper with a vengeance. Now the New York Times and all other papers are getting smaller because of the finances in the newspaper business and it can’t...