New York ? The New York Times’ top two editors resigned Thursday after a tumultuous five weeks that began with the exposure of Jayson Blair’s journalistic fraud and grew into a drumbeat of criticism of the management style at one of the world’s most distinguished newspapers.

Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd left moments after speaking to hundreds of staffers in an emotional meeting in the Times newsroom — the same spot where they celebrated a record seven Pulitzer Prizes just a year ago.

“Given the events of the last month … Howell and Gerald concluded that it was best for the Times that they step down,” Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a memo to the staff. “With great sadness, I agreed with their decision.”

Joseph Lelyveld, 66, the paper’s former executive editor, will come out of retirement to take over as interim executive editor. No one will be named interim managing editor.

“As sad as it is, what happened today is like lancing a boil,” said Susan Tifft, a former associate editor at Time magazine and co-author of “The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times.” “You’ve got to have leadership that the newsroom can get behind. Joe Lelyveld can do that with great ease.”

Spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said the search for new editors would take place “both inside the Times and outside.”

None of the executives who spoke at Thursday’s meeting mentioned the Blair debacle, which the Times had called “a low point” in its 152-year history.

The scandal engulfed the newsroom in recriminations, and Raines, 60, and Boyd, 52, were dealt much of the blame, particularly for sending Blair to cover the Washington-area sniper case when the paper’s metropolitan editor had raised concerns about numerous mistakes in the young reporter’s previous stories.

The case brought to the surface criticisms of Raines’ management style, which many staffers characterized as autocratic and overbearing.

“I hope things settle down and we get a decent executive editor who’s reasonable,” said Jerelle Kraus, art director for the newspaper’s weekend section. “Howell Raines is someone who is feared.”

Blair, 27, resigned from the newspaper on May 1. The Times said an initial investigation found him to have “committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud.”

As an outgrowth of that investigation, the newspaper formed a committee to review newsroom policies, including hiring practices, the use of unidentified sources and freelancers, and byline and dateline practices.

Raines told the staff he planned to return to writing and studying history.