Long-term damage at The New York Times?

Above, NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik and Vanity Fair contributing editor Sarah Ellison weigh in on whether New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger has done long-term damage to his newspaper by mismanaging Jill Abramson’s departure.

Ellison is the only reporter to have interviewed Sulzberger since the P.R. disaster. Here's some of what she said on the show:

ELLISON: One of the things that Arthur mentioned is that he had gotten very, very supportive messages from his family throughout this. And I think one of the things that's interesting is the more that he is under siege, the more the family rallies around from him. He got beautiful messages and one that morning that we spoke had sort of brought tears to his eyes because they were so supportive and really standing with him. I do -

STELTER: That matters because the paper is one of the only family-owned papers left and if this family starts to fray, it could be sold.

ELLISON: I mean, this is - they are sort of the last ones standing. And so I think it is a really important question right now - there don't seem to be divisions that we've seen in other newspaper families - but I think that what we're going to continue to talk about are two things... One is this conversation about women and leadership, which is really what has sort of been ignited by this.

STELTER: Right.

ELLISON: And then the second one is the long-term future of The Times. I think they have weathered this past week or so and made it out of this part of it, but I do think the questions about leadership and the family will continue.