''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's
newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the
highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by
the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publisher is
A. G. Sulzberger. The ''Times'' is headquartered at
The New York Times Building in
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
.
The ''Times'' was founded as the conservative ''New-York Daily Times'' in 1851, and came to national recognition in the 1870s with its aggressive coverage of corrupt politician
Boss Tweed. Following the
Panic of 1893, ''
Chattanooga Times'' publisher
Adolph Ochs gained a controlling interest in the company. In 1935, Ochs was succeeded by his son-in-law,
Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who began a push into European news. Sulzberger's son
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger became publisher in 1963, adapting to a changing newspaper industry and introducing radical changes. ''The New York Times'' was involved in the landmark 1964
U.S. Supreme Court case ''
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan'', which restricted the ability of public officials to sue the media for
defamation.
In 1971, ''The New York Times'' published the ''
Pentagon Papers'', an internal
Department of Defense document detailing the
United States's historical involvement in the
Vietnam War, despite pushback from then-president
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
. In the landmark decision ''
New York Times Co. v. United States'' (1971), the Supreme Court ruled that the
First Amendment guaranteed the right to publish the ''Pentagon Papers''. In the 1980s, the ''Times'' began a two-decade progression to digital technology and launched nytimes.com in 1996. In the 21st century, it shifted its publication online amid the global
decline of newspapers.
Currently, the ''Times'' maintains several regional bureaus staffed with journalists across six continents. It has expanded to several other publications, including ''
The New York Times Magazine'', ''
The New York Times International Edition'', and ''
The New York Times Book Review''. In addition, the paper has produced several television series, podcasts—including ''
The Daily''—and games through ''
The New York Times Games''.
''The New York Times'' has been involved in
a number of controversies in its history. Among other accolades, it has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize
132 times since 1918, the most of any publication.
History
1851–1896
''The New York Times'' was established in 1851 by ''
New-York Tribune'' journalists
Henry Jarvis Raymond and
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...
. The ''Times'' experienced significant circulation, particularly among conservatives; ''New-York Tribune'' publisher
Horace Greeley praised the ''New-York Daily Times''. During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, ''Times'' correspondents gathered information directly from
Confederate states. In 1869, Jones inherited the paper from Raymond, who had changed its name to ''The New-York Times''. Under Jones, the ''Times'' began to publish a series of articles criticizing
Tammany Hall political boss
William M. Tweed, despite vehement opposition from other New York newspapers. In 1871, ''The New-York Times'' published Tammany Hall's accounting books; Tweed was tried in 1873 and sentenced to twelve years in prison. The ''Times'' earned national recognition for its coverage of Tweed. In 1891, Jones died, creating a management imbroglio in which his children had insufficient business acumen to inherit the company and his will prevented an acquisition of the ''Times''. Editor-in-chief
Charles Ransom Miller, editorial editor Edward Cary, and correspondent George F. Spinney established a company to manage ''The New-York Times'', but faced financial difficulties during the
Panic of 1893.
1896–1945
In August 1896, ''
Chattanooga Times'' publisher
Adolph Ochs acquired ''The New-York Times'', implementing significant alterations to the newspaper's structure. Ochs established the ''Times'' as a merchant's newspaper and removed the hyphen from the newspaper's name. In 1905, ''The New York Times'' opened
Times Tower, marking expansion. The ''Times'' experienced a political realignment in the 1910s amid several disagreements within the
Republican Party. ''The New York Times'' reported on the
sinking of the ''Titanic'', as other newspapers were cautious about bulletins circulated by the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
. Through managing editor
Carr Van Anda, the ''Times'' focused on scientific advancements, reporting on
Albert Einstein's then-unknown theory of
general relativity and becoming involved in the
discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. In April 1935, Ochs died, leaving his son-in-law
Arthur Hays Sulzberger as publisher. The
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
forced Sulzberger to reduce ''The New York Times''s operations, and developments in the New York newspaper landscape resulted in the formation of larger newspapers, such as the ''
New York Herald Tribune'' and the ''
New York World-Telegram''. In contrast to Ochs, Sulzberger encouraged
wirephotography.
''The New York Times'' extensively covered
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
through large headlines, reporting on exclusive stories such as the
Yugoslav coup d'état. Amid the war, Sulzberger began expanding the ''Times''s operations further, acquiring
WQXR-FM in 1944—the first non-''Times'' investment since the Jones era—and established a fashion show in Times Hall. Despite reductions as a result of conscription, ''The New York Times'' retained the largest journalism staff of any newspaper. The ''Times''s print edition became available internationally during the war through the
Army & Air Force Exchange Service; ''The New York Times Overseas Weekly'' later became available in Japan through ''
The Asahi Shimbun'' and in Germany through the ''
Frankfurter Zeitung''. The international edition would develop into
a separate newspaper. Journalist
William L. Laurence publicized the
atomic bomb race between the United States and Germany, resulting in the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
seizing copies of the ''Times''. The United States government recruited Laurence to document the
Manhattan Project in April 1945. Laurence became the only witness of the Manhattan Project, a detail realized by employees of ''The New York Times'' following the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
1945–1998
Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, ''The New York Times'' continued to expand. The ''Times'' was subject to investigations from the
Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...
, a
McCarthyist subcommittee that investigated purported communism from within press institutions.
Arthur Hays Sulzberger's decision to dismiss a copyreader who had pleaded the
Fifth Amendment drew ire from within the ''Times'' and from external organizations. In April 1961, Sulzberger resigned, appointing his son-in-law,
The New York Times Company president
Orvil Dryfoos. Under Dryfoos, ''The New York Times'' established a newspaper based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. In 1962, the implementation of automated
printing presses in response to increasing costs mounted fears over
technological unemployment. The New York Typographical Union staged
a strike in December, altering the media consumption of New Yorkers. The strike left New York with three remaining newspapers—the ''Times'', the
''Daily News'', and the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative
daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
''—by its conclusion in March 1963. In May, Dryfoos died of a heart ailment. Following weeks of ambiguity,
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger became ''The New York Times''s publisher.
Technological advancements leveraged by newspapers such as the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' and improvements in coverage from ''
The Washington Post'' and ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' necessitated adaptations to nascent computing. ''The New York Times'' published "
Heed Their Rising Voices" in 1960, a full-page advertisement purchased by supporters of
Martin Luther King Jr. criticizing law enforcement in
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...
for their response to the
civil rights movement. Montgomery Public Safety commissioner L. B. Sullivan sued the ''Times'' for defamation. In ''
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan'' (1964), the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the verdict in Alabama county court and the
Supreme Court of Alabama violated the
First Amendment. The decision is considered to be
landmark. After financial losses, ''The New York Times'' ended its
international edition, acquiring a stake in the ''
Paris Herald Tribune'', forming the ''
International Herald Tribune''. The ''Times'' initially published the ''
Pentagon Papers'', facing opposition from then-president
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
. The Supreme Court ruled in ''The New York Times''s favor in ''
New York Times Co. v. United States'' (1971), allowing the ''Times'' and ''The Washington Post'' to publish the papers.
''The New York Times'' remained cautious in its initial coverage of the
Watergate scandal. As
Congress began investigating the scandal, the ''Times'' furthered its coverage, publishing details on the
Huston Plan, alleged wiretapping of reporters and officials, and testimony from
James W. McCord Jr. that the
Committee for the Re-Election of the President paid the conspirators off. The exodus of readers to suburban New York newspapers, such as ''
Newsday'' and
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation.
It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...
papers, adversely affected ''The New York Times''s circulation. Contemporary newspapers balked at additional sections; ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' devoted a cover for its criticism and ''
New York'' wrote that the ''Times'' was engaging in "middle-class self-absorption". ''The New York Times'', the ''Daily News'', and the ''New York Post'' were the subject of
a strike in 1978, allowing emerging newspapers to leverage halted coverage. The ''Times'' deliberately avoided coverage of the
AIDS epidemic, running its first front-page article in May 1983.
Max Frankel's editorial coverage of the epidemic, with mentions of
anal intercourse, contrasted with then-executive editor
A. M. Rosenthal's puritan approach, intentionally avoiding descriptions of the luridity of gay venues.
Following years of waning interest in ''The New York Times'', Sulzberger resigned in January 1992, appointing his son,
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., as publisher. The
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
represented a generational shift within the ''Times''; Sulzberger, who negotiated The New York Times Company's acquisition of ''
The Boston Globe'' in 1993, derided the Internet, while his son expressed antithetical views. @times appeared on
America Online's website in May 1994 as an extension of ''The New York Times'', featuring news articles, film reviews, sports news, and business articles. Despite opposition, several employees of the ''Times'' had begun to access the Internet. The online success of publications that traditionally co-existed with the ''Times''—such as America Online,
Yahoo, and
CNN—and the expansion of websites such as
Monster.com and
Craigslist that threatened ''The New York Times''s
classified advertisement model increased efforts to develop a website.
nytimes.com debuted on January 19 and was formally announced three days later. The ''Times'' published domestic terrorist
Ted Kaczynski's essay ''
Industrial Society and Its Future'' in 1995, contributing to his arrest after his brother
David recognized the essay's penmanship.
1998–present
Following the establishment of
nytimes.com, ''The New York Times'' retained its journalistic hesitancy under executive editor
Joseph Lelyveld, refusing to publish an article reporting on the
Clinton–Lewinsky scandal from
Drudge Report. nytimes.com editors conflicted with print editors on several occasions, including wrongfully naming security guard
Richard Jewell as the suspect in the
Centennial Olympic Park bombing and covering the
death of Diana, Princess of Wales in greater detail than the print edition. The New York Times Electronic Media Company was adversely affected by the
dot-com crash. The ''Times'' extensively covered the
September 11 attacks. The following day's print issue contained sixty-six articles, the work of over three hundred dispatched reporters. Journalist
Judith Miller was the recipient of a package containing a white powder during the
2001 anthrax attacks, furthering anxiety within ''The New York Times''. In September 2002, Miller and military correspondent
Michael R. Gordon wrote an article for the ''Times'' claiming that Iraq had purchased
aluminum tubes. The article was cited by then-president
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
to claim that Iraq was constructing
weapons of mass destruction; the theoretical use of aluminum tubes to produce nuclear material was speculation. In March 2003, the United States
invaded Iraq, beginning the
Iraq War.
''The New York Times'' attracted controversy after thirty-six articles from journalist
Jayson Blair were discovered to be plagiarized. Criticism over then-executive editor
Howell Raines and then-managing editor
Gerald M. Boyd mounted following the scandal, culminating in a town hall in which a deputy editor criticized Raines for failing to question Blair's sources in article he wrote on the
D.C. sniper attacks. In June 2003, Raines and Boyd resigned.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. appointed
Bill Keller as executive editor. Miller continued to report on the Iraq War as a
journalistic embed covering the country's weapons of mass destruction program. Keller and then-Washington bureau chief
Jill Abramson unsuccessfully attempted to subside criticism. Conservative media criticized the ''Times'' over its coverage of
missing explosives from the
Al Qa'qaa weapons facility. An article in December 2005 disclosing
warrantless surveillance by the
National Security Agency contributed to further criticism from the George W. Bush administration and the
Senate's refusal to renew the
Patriot Act. In the
Plame affair,
a Central Intelligence Agency inquiry found that Miller had become aware of
Valerie Plame's identity through then-vice president
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...
's chief of staff
Scooter Libby, resulting in Miller's resignation.
During the
Great Recession, ''The New York Times'' suffered significant fiscal difficulties as a consequence of the
subprime mortgage crisis and a decline in
classified advertising. Exacerbated by
Rupert Murdoch's revitalization of ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' through his acquisition of
Dow Jones & Company,
The New York Times Company began enacting measures to reduce the newsroom budget. The company was forced to borrow $250 million (equivalent to $ million in ) from Mexican billionaire
Carlos Slim and fired over one hundred employees by 2010. nytimes.com's coverage of the
Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, resulting in the resignation of then-New York governor
Eliot Spitzer, furthered the legitimacy of the website as a journalistic medium. The ''Times''s economic downturn renewed discussions of an online paywall; ''The New York Times'' implemented a paywall in March 2011. Abramson succeeded Keller, continuing her characteristic investigations into corporate and government malfeasance into the ''Times''s coverage. Following conflicts with newly appointed chief executive
Mark Thompson's ambitions, Abramson was dismissed by Sulzberger Jr., who named
Dean Baquet as her replacement.
Leading up to the
2016 presidential election, ''The New York Times'' elevated the
Hillary Clinton email controversy into a national issue.
Donald Trump's upset victory contributed to an increase in subscriptions to the ''Times''. ''The New York Times'' experienced unprecedented indignation from Trump, who referred to publications such as the ''Times'' as "
enemies of the people" at the
Conservative Political Action Conference
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC ) is an annual political conference attended by Conservatism in the United States, conservative Activism, activists and officials from across the United States. CPAC is hosted by the American ...
and tweeted his disdain for the newspaper and
CNN. In October 2017, ''The New York Times'' published an article by journalists
Jodi Kantor and
Megan Twohey alleging that dozens of women had accused film producer and
The Weinstein Company co-chairman
Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. The investigation resulted in Weinstein's resignation and conviction, precipitated the
Weinstein effect, and served as a catalyst for the
#MeToo movement. The New York Times Company vacated the public editor position and eliminated the copy desk in November. Sulzberger Jr. announced his resignation in December 2017, appointing his son,
A. G. Sulzberger, as publisher.
Trump's relationship—equally diplomatic and negative—marked Sulzberger's tenure. In September 2018, ''The New York Times'' published "
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration", an
anonymous essay by a self-described Trump administration official later revealed to be
Department of Homeland Security chief of staff
Miles Taylor. The animosity—which extended to nearly three hundred instances of Trump disparaging the ''Times'' by May 2019—culminated in Trump ordering federal agencies to cancel their subscriptions to ''The New York Times'' and ''
The Washington Post'' in October 2019.
Trump's tax returns have been the subject of three separate investigations. During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the ''Times'' began implementing data services and graphs. On May 23, 2020, ''The New York Times''s front page solely featured ''
U.S. Deaths Near 100,000, An Incalculable Loss'', a subset of the 100,000 people in the United States who died of COVID-19, the first time that the ''Times''s front page lacked images since they were introduced. Since 2020, ''The New York Times'' has focused on broader diversification, developing online games and producing television series. The New York Times Company acquired ''
The Athletic'' in January 2022.
Organization
Management
Since 1896, ''The New York Times'' has been published by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, having previously been published by
Henry Jarvis Raymond until 1869 and by
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...
until 1896.
Adolph Ochs published the ''Times'' until his death in 1935, when he was succeeded by his son-in-law,
Arthur Hays Sulzberger. Sulzberger was publisher until 1961 and was succeeded by
Orvil Dryfoos, his son-in-law, who served in the position until his death in 1963.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger succeeded Dryfoos until his resignation in 1992. His son,
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., served as publisher until 2018. ''The New York Times''s current publisher is
A. G. Sulzberger, Sulzberger Jr.'s son. As of 2023, the ''Times''s executive editor is
Joseph Kahn and the paper's managing editors are
Marc Lacey and
Carolyn Ryan, having been appointed in June 2022. ''The New York Times''s deputy managing editors are
Sam Dolnick,
Monica Drake, and
Steve Duenes, and the paper's assistant managing editors are Matthew Ericson, Jonathan Galinsky, Hannah Poferl,
Sam Sifton, Karron Skog, and
Michael Slackman.
''The New York Times'' is owned by
The New York Times Company, a publicly traded company. The New York Times Company, in addition to the ''Times'', owns ''
Wirecutter'', ''
The Athletic'', The New York Times Cooking, and The New York Times Games, and acquired Serial Productions and Audm. The New York Times Company holds undisclosed minority investments in multiple other businesses, and formerly owned ''
The Boston Globe'' and several radio and television stations. The New York Times Company is majority-owned by the Ochs-Sulzberger family through elevated shares in the company's dual-class stock structure held largely in a trust, in effect since the 1950s; as of 2022, the family holds ninety-five percent of The New York Times Company's
Class B shares, allowing it to elect seventy percent of the company's board of directors.
Class A shareholders have restrictive voting rights. As of 2023, The New York Times Company's chief executive is
Meredith Kopit Levien, the company's former chief operating officer who was appointed in September 2020.
Journalists
As of March 2023, The New York Times Company employs 5,800 individuals, including 1,700 journalists according to deputy managing editor
Sam Dolnick. Journalists for ''The New York Times'' may not run for public office, provide financial support to political candidates or causes, endorse candidates, or demonstrate public support for causes or movements. Journalists are subject to the guidelines established in "Ethical Journalism" and "Guidelines on Integrity". According to the former, ''Times'' journalists must abstain from using sources with a personal relationship to them and must not accept reimbursements or inducements from individuals who may be written about in ''The New York Times'', with exceptions for gifts of nominal value. The latter requires attribution and exact quotations, though exceptions are made for linguistic anomalies. Staff writers are expected to ensure the veracity of all written claims, but may delegate researching obscure facts to the research desk. In March 2021, the ''Times'' established a committee to avoid journalistic conflicts of interest with work written for ''The New York Times'', following columnist
David Brooks's resignation from the
Aspen Institute for his undisclosed work on the initiative Weave.
Editorial board
''The New York Times'' editorial board was established in 1896 by
Adolph Ochs. With the opinion department, the editorial board is independent of the newsroom. Then-editor-in-chief
Charles Ransom Miller served as opinion editor from 1883 until his death in 1922.
Rollo Ogden succeeded Miller until his death in 1937. From 1937 to 1938,
John Huston Finley served as opinion editor; in a prearranged plan,
Charles Merz succeeded Finley. Merz served in the position until his retirement in 1961.
John Bertram Oakes served as opinion editor from 1961 to 1976, when then-publisher
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger appointed
Max Frankel. Frankel served in the position until 1986, when he was appointed as executive editor.
Jack Rosenthal was the opinion editor from 1986 to 1993.
Howell Raines succeeded Rosenthal until 2001, when he was made executive editor.
Gail Collins succeeded Raines until her resignation in 2006. From 2007 to 2016,
Andrew Rosenthal was the opinion editor.
James Bennet succeeded Rosenthal until his resignation in 2020. , the editorial board comprises thirteen opinion writers. ''The New York Times''s opinion editor is
Kathleen Kingsbury and the deputy opinion editor is Patrick Healy.
''The New York Times''s editorial board was initially opposed to liberal beliefs, opposing
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...
in 1900 and 1914. The editorial board began to espouse progressive beliefs during Oakes' tenure, conflicting with the Ochs-Sulzberger family, of which Oakes was a member as Adolph Ochs's nephew; in 1976, Oakes publicly disagreed with Sulzberger's endorsement of
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (; March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and social scientist. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he represented New York (state), New York in the ...
over
Bella Abzug in the
1976 Senate Democratic primaries in a letter sent from
Martha's Vineyard. Under Rosenthal, the editorial board took positions supporting
assault weapons legislation and the
legalization of marijuana, but publicly criticized the
Obama administration over its portrayal of terrorism. In presidential elections, ''The New York Times'' has
endorsed a total of twelve Republican candidates and thirty-two Democratic candidates, and has endorsed the Democrat in every election since 1960. With the exception of
Wendell Willkie, Republicans endorsed by the ''Times'' have won the presidency. In 2016, the editorial board issued an anti-endorsement against
Donald Trump for the first time in its history. In February 2020, the editorial board reduced its presence from several editorials each day to occasional editorials for events deemed particularly significant. Since August 2024, the board no longer endorses candidates in local or congressional races in New York.
Unionization
Since 1940, editorial, media, and technology workers of ''The New York Times'' have been represented by the
New York Times Guild. The Times Guild, along with the Times Tech Guild, are represented by the
NewsGuild-CWA. In 1940,
Arthur Hays Sulzberger was called upon by the
National Labor Relations Board amid accusations that he had discouraged Guild membership in the ''Times''. Over the next few years, the Guild would ratify several contracts, expanding to editorial and news staff in 1942 and maintenance workers in 1943. The New York Times Guild has walked out several times in its history, including for six and a half hours in 1981 and in 2017, when copy editors and reporters walked out at lunchtime in response to the elimination of the copy desk. On December 7, 2022, the union held a one-day strike, the first interruption to ''The New York Times'' since 1978. The New York Times Guild reached an agreement in May 2023 to increase minimum salaries for employees and a retroactive bonus. The Times Tech Guild is the largest
technology union with
collective bargaining rights in the United States. The guild held a second strike beginning on November 4, 2024, threatening the ''Times''s coverage of the
2024 United States presidential election.
Content
Circulation
As of August 2024, ''The New York Times'' has 10.8 million subscribers, with 10.2 million online subscribers and 600,000 print subscribers, the
second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States behind ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''. The New York Times Company intends to have fifteen million subscribers by 2027. The ''Times''s shift towards subscription-based revenue with the debut of an online paywall in 2011 contributed to subscription revenue exceeding advertising revenue the following year, furthered by the
2016 presidential election and
Donald Trump. In 2022, ''
Vox'' wrote that ''The New York Times''s subscribers skew "older, richer, whiter, and more liberal"; to reflect the general population of the United States, the ''Times'' has attempted to alter its audience by acquiring ''
The Athletic'', investing in verticals such as ''The New York Times Games'', and beginning a marketing campaign showing diverse subscribers to the ''Times''. The New York Times Company chief executive
Meredith Kopit Levien stated that the average age of subscribers has remained constant.
Newsletters
In October 2001, ''The New York Times'' began publishing ''DealBook'', a financial newsletter edited by
Andrew Ross Sorkin. The ''Times'' had intended to publish the newsletter in September, but delayed its debut following the
September 11 attacks. A website for ''DealBook'' was established in March 2006. ''The New York Times'' began shifting towards ''DealBook'' as part of the newspaper's financial coverage in November 2010 with a renewed website and a presence in the ''Times''s print edition. In 2011, the ''Times'' began hosting the DealBook Summit, an annual conference hosted by Sorkin. During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, ''The New York Times'' hosted the DealBook Online Summit in 2020 and 2021. The 2022 DealBook Summit featured—among other speakers—former vice president
Mike Pence and Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, culminating in an interview with former
FTX chief executive
Sam Bankman-Fried; FTX had
filed for bankruptcy several weeks prior. The 2023 DealBook Summit's speakers included vice president
Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
, Israeli president
Isaac Herzog, and businessman
Elon Musk.
In June 2010, ''The New York Times'' licensed the political blog ''
FiveThirtyEight'' in a three-year agreement. The blog, written by
Nate Silver
Nathaniel Read Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, political analyst, author, sports gambler, and poker player who Sabermetrics, analyzes baseball, basketball and Psephology, elections. He is the founder of ''FiveThirty ...
, had garnered attention during the
2008 presidential election for predicting the elections in forty-nine of fifty states. ''FiveThirtyEight'' appeared on nytimes.com in August. According to Silver, several offers were made for the blog; Silver wrote that a merger of unequals must allow for editorial sovereignty and resources from the acquirer, comparing himself to
Groucho Marx. According to ''
The New Republic'', ''FiveThirtyEight'' drew as much as a fifth of the traffic to nytimes.com during the
2012 presidential election. In July 2013, ''FiveThirtyEight'' was sold to
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
. In an article following Silver's exit, public editor
Margaret Sullivan wrote that he was disruptive to the ''Times''s culture for his perspective on probability-based predictions and scorn for polling—having stated that punditry is "fundamentally useless", comparing him to
Billy Beane, who implemented
sabermetrics in baseball. According to Sullivan, his work was criticized by several notable political journalists.
''The New Republic'' obtained a memo in November 2013 revealing then-Washington bureau chief
David Leonhardt's ambitions to establish a data-driven newsletter with presidential historian
Michael Beschloss, graphic designer
Amanda Cox, economist
Justin Wolfers, and ''The New Republic'' journalist
Nate Cohn. By March, Leonhardt had amassed fifteen employees from within ''The New York Times''; the newsletter's staff included individuals who had created the ''Times''s dialect quiz,
fourth down analyzer, and a calculator for determining buying or renting a home. ''
The Upshot
''The Upshot'' is a website published by ''The New York Times'' which spreads articles combining data visualization with conventional journalistic analysis of news.
History
''The Upshot'' was first announced in March 2014 and was officially laun ...
'' debuted in April 2014. ''
Fast Company'' reviewed an article about
Illinois Secure Choice—a state-funded retirement saving system—as "neither a terse news item, nor a formal financial advice column, nor a politically charged response to economic policy", citing its informal and neutral tone. ''The Upshot'' developed "the needle" for the
2016 presidential election and
2020 presidential elections, a thermometer dial displaying the probability of a candidate winning. In January 2016, Cox was named editor of ''The Upshot''. Kevin Quealy was named editor in June 2022.
Political positions
''The New York Times'' has been viewed as a liberal newspaper. An analysis by
Pew Research Center in October 2014 placed the ''Times'' as ideologically liberal. According to an internal readership poll conducted by ''The New York Times'' in 2019, eighty-four percent of readers identified as liberal.
Crossword
In February 1942,
''The New York Times'' crossword debuted in ''
The New York Times Magazine''; according to Richard Shepard, the
attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 convinced then-publisher
Arthur Hays Sulzberger of the necessity of a crossword.
Cooking
''The New York Times'' has published recipes since the 1850s and has had a separate food section since the 1940s. In 1961, restaurant critic
Craig Claiborne published ''The New York Times Cookbook'', an unauthorized cookbook that drew from the ''Times''s recipes. Since 2010, former food editor
Amanda Hesser has published ''
The Essential New York Times Cookbook'', a compendium of recipes from ''The New York Times''. The ''Innovation Report'' in 2014 revealed that the ''Times'' had attempted to establish a cooking website since 1998, but faced difficulties with the absence of a defined data structure. In September 2014, ''The New York Times'' introduced NYT Cooking, an application and website. Edited by food editor
Sam Sifton, the ''Times''s cooking website features 21,000 recipes as of 2022. NYT Cooking features videos as part of an effort by Sifton to hire two former
''Tasty'' employees from
BuzzFeed. In August 2023, NYT Cooking added personalized recommendations through the
cosine similarity of text embeddings of recipe titles. The website also features no-recipe recipes, a concept proposed by Sifton.
In May 2016, The New York Times Company announced a partnership with startup Chef'd to form a meal delivery service that would deliver ingredients from The New York Times Cooking recipes to subscribers; Chef'd shut down in July 2018 after failing to accrue capital and secure financing. ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' reported in September 2022 that the ''Times'' would expand its delivery options to cooking kits curated by chefs such as
Nina Compton, Chintan Pandya, and Naoko Takei Moore. That month, the staff of NYT Cooking went on tour with Compton, Pandya, and Moore in Los Angeles,
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, and New York City, culminating in a food festival. In addition, ''The New York Times'' offered its own
wine club originally operated by the Global Wine Company. The New York Times Wine Club was established in August 2009, during a dramatic decrease in advertising revenue. By 2021, the wine club was managed by
Lot18, a company that provides proprietary labels. Lot18 managed the
Williams Sonoma Wine Club and its own wine club Tasting Room.
Archives
''The New York Times'' archives its articles in
a basement annex beneath its building known as "the morgue", a venture started by managing editor
Carr Van Anda in 1907. The morgue comprises news clippings, a pictures library, and the ''Times''s book and periodicals library. As of 2014, it is the largest library of any media company, dating back to 1851. In November 2018, ''The New York Times'' partnered with
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
to digitize the Archival Library. Additionally, ''The New York Times'' has maintained a virtual microfilm reader known as TimesMachine since 2014. The service launched with archives from 1851 to 1980; in 2016, TimesMachine expanded to include archives from 1981 to 2002. The ''Times'' built a pipeline to take in
TIFF images, article metadata in
XML and an
INI file of
Cartesian geometry describing the boundaries of the page, and convert it into a
PNG of image tiles and
JSON
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced or ) is an open standard file format and electronic data interchange, data interchange format that uses Human-readable medium and data, human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consi ...
containing the information in the XML and INI files. The image tiles are generated using
GDAL and displayed using
Leaflet, using data from a
content delivery network. The ''Times'' ran
optical character recognition on the articles using
Tesseract and
shingled and
fuzzy string matched the result.
Content management system
''The New York Times'' uses a proprietary
content management system known as Scoop for its online content and the
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor program, word processing program developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platf ...
-based content management system
CCI for its print content. Scoop was developed in 2008 to serve as a secondary content management system for editors working in CCI to publish their content on the ''Times''s website; as part of ''The New York Times''s online endeavors, editors now write their content in Scoop and send their work to CCI for print publication. Since its introduction, Scoop has superseded several processes within the ''Times'', including print edition planning and collaboration, and features tools such as multimedia integration, notifications, content tagging, and drafts. ''The New York Times'' uses private articles for high-profile opinion pieces, such as those written by Russian president
Vladimir Putin and actress
Angelina Jolie, and for high-level investigations. In January 2012, the ''Times'' released Integrated Content Editor (ICE), a revision tracking tool for
WordPress and
TinyMCE. ICE is integrated within the ''Times''s workflow by providing a unified text editor for print and online editors, reducing the divide between print and online operations.
By 2017, ''The New York Times'' began developing a new authoring tool to its content management system known as Oak, in an attempt to further the ''Times''s visual efforts in articles and reduce the discrepancy between the mediums in print and online articles. The system reduces the input of editors and supports additional visual mediums in an editor that resembles the appearance of the article. Oak is based on ProseMirror, a
JavaScript rich-text editor toolkit, and retains the revision tracking and commenting functionalities of ''The New York Times''s previous systems. Additionally, Oak supports predefined article headers. In 2019, Oak was updated to support collaborative editing using
Firebase to update editors's cursor status. Several Google Cloud Functions and Google Cloud Tasks allow articles to be previewed as they will be printed, and the ''Times''s primary
MySQL
MySQL () is an Open-source software, open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My, and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A rel ...
database is regularly updated to update editors on the article status.
Style and design
Style guide
Since 1895, ''The New York Times'' has maintained a
manual of style
A style guide is a set of standards for the writing, Typesetting, formatting, and design of documents. A book-length style guide is often called a style manual or a manual of style. A short style guide, typically ranging from several to severa ...
in several forms. ''The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage'' was published on the ''Times''s
intranet in 1999.
''The New York Times'' uses
honorific
An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...
s when referring to individuals. With the ''
AP Stylebook''s removal of honorifics in 2000 and ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''s omission of courtesy titles in May 2023, the ''Times'' is the only national newspaper that continues to use honorifics. According to former copy editor Merrill Perlman, ''The New York Times'' continues to use honorifics as a "sign of civility". The ''Times''s use of courtesy titles led to an apocryphal rumor that the paper had referred to singer
Meat Loaf as "Mr. Loaf". Several exceptions have been made; the former sports section and ''
The New York Times Book Review'' do not use honorifics. A leaked memo following the
killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 revealed that editors were given a last-minute instruction to omit the honorific from
Osama bin Laden's name, consistent with deceased figures of historic significance, such as
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
,
Napoleon, and
Vladimir Lenin. ''The New York Times'' uses academic and military titles for individuals prominently serving in that position. In 1986, the ''Times'' began to use
Ms., and introduced the gender-neutral title
Mx. in 2015. ''The New York Times'' uses initials when a subject has expressed a preference, such as
Donald Trump.
''The New York Times'' maintains a strict but not absolute obscenity policy, including phrases. In a review of the Canadian
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
band
Fucked Up, music critic
Kelefa Sanneh wrote that the band's name—entirely rendered in asterisks—would not be printed in the ''Times'' "unless an American president, or someone similar, says it by mistake"; ''The New York Times'' did not repeat then-vice president
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...
's use of "fuck" against then-senator
Patrick Leahy in 2004 or then-vice president
Joe Biden's remarks that the passage of the
Affordable Care Act in 2010 was a "big fucking deal". The ''Times''s profanity policy has been tested by former president Donald Trump. ''The New York Times'' published Trump's
''Access Hollywood'' tape in October 2016, containing the words "fuck", "pussy", "bitch", and "tits", the first time the publication had published an expletive on its front page, and repeated an explicit phrase for fellatio stated by then-
White House communications director
Anthony Scaramucci in July 2017. ''The New York Times'' omitted Trump's use of the phrase "
shithole countries" from its headline in favor of "vulgar language" in January 2018. The ''Times'' banned certain words, such as "bitch", "whore", and "sluts", from ''
Wordle'' in 2022.
Headlines
Journalists for ''The New York Times'' do not write their own headlines, but rather copy editors who specifically write headlines. The ''Times''s guidelines insist headline editors get to the main point of an article but avoid giving away endings, if present. Other guidelines include using slang "sparingly", avoiding
tabloid headlines, not ending a line on a preposition, article, or adjective, and chiefly, not to pun. ''
The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage'' states that wordplay, such as "Rubber Industry Bounces Back", is to be tested on a colleague as a
canary is to be tested in a coal mine; "when no song bursts forth, start rewriting". ''The New York Times'' has amended headlines due to controversy. In 2019, following two back-to-back mass shootings in
El Paso and
Dayton, the ''Times'' used the headline, "Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism", to describe then-president
Donald Trump's words after the shootings. After criticism from ''
FiveThirtyEight'' founder
Nate Silver
Nathaniel Read Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, political analyst, author, sports gambler, and poker player who Sabermetrics, analyzes baseball, basketball and Psephology, elections. He is the founder of ''FiveThirty ...
, the headline was changed to, "Assailing Hate But Not Guns".
Online, ''The New York Times''s headlines do not face the same length restrictions as headlines that appear in print; print headlines must fit within a column, often six words. Additionally, headlines must "break" properly, containing a complete thought on each line without splitting up prepositions and adverbs. Writers may edit a headline to fit an article more aptly if further developments occur. The ''Times'' uses
A/B testing for articles on the front page, placing two headlines against each other. At the end of the test, the headlines that receives more traffic is chosen. The alteration of a headline regarding intercepted Russian data used in the
Mueller special counsel investigation was noted by Trump in a March 2017 interview with ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', in which he claimed that the headline used the word "wiretapped" in the print version of the paper on January 20, while the digital article on January 19 omitted the word. The headline was intentionally changed in the print version to use "wiretapped" in order to fit within the print guidelines.
Nameplate
The nameplate of ''The New York Times'' has been unaltered since 1967. In creating the initial nameplate,
Henry Jarvis Raymond took as his model the British newspaper ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', which used a
Blackletter style called
Textura, popularized following the
fall of the Western Roman Empire
The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...
and regional variations of
Alcuin's script, as well as a period. With the change to ''The New-York Times'' on September 14, 1857, the nameplate followed. Under
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...
, the
terminals of the "N", "r", and "s" were intentionally exaggerated into swashes. The nameplate in the January 15, 1894, issue trimmed the terminals once more, smoothed the edges, and turned the stem supporting the "T" into an ornament. The hyphen was dropped on December 1, 1896, after
Adolph Ochs purchased the paper. The
descender of the "h" was shortened on December 30, 1914. The largest change to the nameplate was introduced on February 21, 1967, when type designer
Ed Benguiat redesigned the logo, most prominently turning the arrow ornament into a diamond. Notoriously, the new logo dropped the
period that had followed the word ''Times'' up until that point; one reader compared the omission of the period to "performing plastic surgery on
Helen of Troy." Picture editor John Radosta worked with a
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
professor to determine that dropping the period saved the paper ().
Print edition
Design and layout
As of December 2023, ''The New York Times'' has printed sixty thousand issues, a statistic represented in the paper's masthead to the right of the volume number, the ''Times''s years in publication written in
Roman numerals
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
. The volume and issues are separated by four dots representing the edition number of that issue; on the day of the 2000 presidential election, the ''Times'' was revised four separate times, necessitating the use of an
em dash in place of an ellipsis. The em dash issue was printed hundreds times over before being replaced by the one-dot issue. Despite efforts by newsroom employees to recycle copies sent to ''The New York Times''s office, several copies were kept, including one put on display at the Museum at The Times. From February 7, 1898, to December 31, 1999, the ''Times''s issue number was incorrect by five hundred issues, an error suspected by ''
The Atlantic'' to be the result of a careless front page type editor. The misreporting was noticed by news editor Aaron Donovan, who was calculating the number of issues in a spreadsheet and noticed the discrepancy. ''The New York Times'' celebrated fifty thousand issues on March 14, 1995, an observance that should have occurred on July 26, 1996.
''The New York Times'' has reduced the physical size of its print edition while retaining its
broadsheet format. ''The New-York Daily Times'' debuted at across. By the 1950s, the ''Times'' was being printed at across. In 1953, an increase in paper costs to () a ton increased newsprint costs to million () On December 28, 1953, the pages were reduced to . On February 14, 1955, a further reduction to occurred, followed by . On August 6, 2007, the largest cut occurred when the pages were reduced to , a decision that other broadsheets had previously considered. Then-executive editor
Bill Keller stated that a narrower paper would be more beneficial to the reader but acknowledged a net loss in article space of five percent. In 1985, The New York Times Company established a minority stake in a million () newsprint plant in
Clermont, Quebec through
Donahue Malbaie. The company sold its equity interest in Donahue Malbaie in 2017.
''The New York Times'' often uses large, bolded headlines for major events. For the print version of the ''Times'', these headlines are written by one copy editor, reviewed by two other copy editors, approved by the masthead editors, and polished by other print editors. The process is completed before 8 p.m., but it may be repeated if further development occur, as did take place during the
2020 presidential election. On the day
Joe Biden was declared the winner, ''The New York Times'' utilized a "hammer headline" reading, "Biden Beats Trump", in all caps and bolded. A dozen journalists discussed several potential headlines, such as "It's Biden" or "Biden's Moment", and prepared for a
Donald Trump victory, in which they would use "Trump Prevails". During Trump's
first impeachment, the ''Times'' drafted the hammer headline, "Trump Impeached". ''The New York Times'' altered the
ligatures between the E and the A, as not doing so would leave a noticeable gap due to the stem of the A sloping away from the E. The ''Times'' reused the tight
kerning for "Biden Beats Trump" and Trump's
second impeachment, which simply read, "Impeached".
In cases where two major events occur on the same day or immediately after each other, ''The New York Times'' has used a "paddle wheel" headline, where both headlines are used but split by a line. The term dates back to August 8, 1959, when it was revealed that the United States was monitoring Soviet missile firings and when
Explorer 6—shaped like a
paddle wheel
A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...
—launched. Since then, the paddle wheel has been used several times, including on January 21, 1981, when
Ronald Reagan was
sworn in minutes before
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
released fifty-two American hostages, ending the
Iran hostage crisis. At the time, most newspapers favored the end of the hostage crisis, but the ''Times'' placed the inauguration above the crisis. Since 1981, the paddle wheel has been used twice; on July 26, 2000, when the
2000 Camp David Summit ended without an agreement and when Bush announced that
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...
would be his running mate, and on June 24, 2016, when the
United Kingdom European Union membership referendum passed, beginning
Brexit, and when the
Supreme Court deadlocked in ''
United States v. Texas''.
''The New York Times'' has run editorials from its editorial board on the front page twice. On June 13, 1920, the ''Times'' ran an editorial opposing
Warren G. Harding, who was nominated during that year's
Republican Party presidential primaries. Amid growing acceptance to run editorials on the front pages from publications such as the ''
Detroit Free Press'', ''
The Patriot-News'', ''
The Arizona Republic'', and ''
The Indianapolis Star'', ''The New York Times'' ran an editorial on its front page on December 5, 2015, following
a terrorist attack in
San Bernardino, California, in which fourteen people were killed. The editorial advocates for the prohibition of "slightly modified combat rifles" used in the San Bernardino shooting and "certain kinds of ammunition". Conservative figures, including
Texas senator
Ted Cruz, ''
The Weekly Standard'' editor
Bill Kristol, ''
Fox & Friends'' co-anchor
Steve Doocy, and then-
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
governor
Chris Christie criticized the ''Times''. Talk radio host
Erick Erickson acquired an issue of ''The New York Times'' to fire several rounds into the paper, posting a picture online.
Printing process

Since 1997, ''The New York Times''s primary distribution center is located in
College Point, Queens. The facility is and employs 170 people as of 2017. The College Point distribution center prints 300,000 to 800,000 newspapers daily. On most occasions, presses start before 11 p.m. and finish before 3 a.m. A robotic crane grabs a roll of newsprint and several rollers ensure ink can be printed on paper. The final newspapers are wrapped in plastic and shipped out. As of 2018, the College Point facility accounted for 41 percent of production. Other copies are printed at 26 other publications, such as ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', ''
The Dallas Morning News'', ''
The Santa Fe New Mexican'', and the ''
Courier Journal''. With the
decline of newspapers, particularly regional publications, the ''Times'' must travel further; for example, newspapers for Hawaii are flown from San Francisco on
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...
, and Sunday papers are flown from Los Angeles on
Hawaiian Airlines. Computer glitches, mechanical issues, and weather phenomena affect circulation but do not stop the paper from reaching customers. The College Point facility prints over two dozen other papers, including ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' and ''
USA Today''.
''The New York Times'' has halted its printing process several times to account for major developments. The first printing stoppage occurred on March 31, 1968, when then-president
Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not seek a second term. Other press stoppages include May 19, 1994, for the death of former first lady
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and July 17, 1996, for
Trans World Airlines Flight 800. The
2000 presidential election necessitated two press stoppages.
Al Gore appeared to concede on November 8, forcing then-executive editor
Joseph Lelyveld to stop the ''Times''s presses to print a new headline, "Bush Appears to Defeat Gore", with a story that stated
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
was elected president. However, Gore held off his concession speech over doubts over
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. Lelyveld reran the headline, "Bush and Gore Vie for an Edge". Since 2000, three printing stoppages have been issued for the death of
William Rehnquist on September 3, 2005, for the
killing of Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011, and for the passage of the
Marriage Equality Act in the
New York State Assembly and subsequent signage by then-governor
Andrew Cuomo on June 24, 2011.
Online platforms
Website
The New York Times website is hosted at nytimes.com. It has undergone several major redesigns and infrastructure developments since its debut. In April 2006, ''The New York Times'' redesigned its website with an emphasis on multimedia. In preparation for
Super Tuesday in February 2008, the ''Times'' developed a live election system using the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
's
File Transfer Protocol
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and d ...
(FTP) service and a
Ruby on Rails application; nytimes.com experienced its largest traffic on Super Tuesday and the day after.
Applications
The NYTimes application debuted with the introduction of the
App Store on July 10, 2008. ''
Engadget
Engadget ( ) is a technology news, reviews and analysis website offering daily coverage of gadgets, consumer electronics, video games, gaming hardware, apps, social media, streaming, AI, space, robotics, electric vehicles and other potentially ...
''s Scott McNulty wrote critically of the app, negatively comparing it to ''The New York Times''s mobile website. An
iPad version with select articles was released on April 3, 2010, with the release of the
first-generation iPad. In October, ''The New York Times'' expanded NYT Editors' Choice to include the paper's full articles. NYT for iPad was free until 2011. The ''Times'' applications on
iPhone and iPad began offering in-app subscriptions in July 2011. The ''Times'' released a
web application for iPad—featuring a format summarizing trending headlines on
Twitter—and a
Windows 8 application in October 2012.
Efforts to ensure profitability through an online magazine and a "Need to Know" subscription emerged in ''
Adweek'' in July 2013. In March 2014, ''The New York Times'' announced three applications—NYT Now, an application that offers pertinent news in a blog format, and two unnamed applications, later known as NYT Opinion and NYT Cooking—to diversify its product laterals.
Podcasts
''The New York Times'' manages several podcasts, including multiple podcasts with Serial Productions. The ''Times''s longest-running podcast is ''The Book Review Podcast'', debuting as ''Inside
The New York Times Book Review'' in April 2006.
''The New York Times''s defining podcast is ''
The Daily'', a daily news podcast hosted by
Michael Barbaro which debuted on February 1, 2017. Between March 2022 and March 2025, the approximately 30 minute programme was co-hosted with
Sabrina Tavernise. Beginning in April 2025 Barbaro was joined by two new regular co-hosts,
Natalie Kitroeff and
Rachel Abrams.
''The Interview'' was launched in 2024 and is hosted weekly by
David Marchese and
Lulu Garcia-Navarro. Episodes typically last 40 to 50 minutes. Condensed versions of the interviews are published simultaneously in ''
The New York Times Magazine''. Guests have included politicians, actors, influential experts, media figures and high-profile writers.
In October 2021, ''The New York Times'' began testing "New York Times Audio", an application featuring podcasts from the ''Times'', audio versions of articles—including from other publications through Audm, and archives from ''
This American Life''. The application debuted in May 2023 exclusively on
iOS for ''Times'' subscribers. New York Times Audio includes exclusive podcasts such as ''The Headlines'', a daily news recap, and ''Shorts'', short audio stories under ten minutes. In addition, a "Reporter Reads" section features ''Times'' journalists reading their articles and providing commentary.
Games
''The New York Times'' has used video games as part of its journalistic efforts, among the first publications to do so, contributing to an increase in Internet traffic; the publication has also developed its own video games. In 2014, ''
The New York Times Magazine'' introduced ''
Spelling Bee'', a
word game in which players guess words from a set of letters in a
honeycomb and are awarded points for the length of the word and receive extra points if the word is a
pangram. The game was proposed by
Will Shortz, created by
Frank Longo, and has been maintained by
Sam Ezersky. In May 2018, ''Spelling Bee'' was published on nytimes.com, furthering its popularity. In February 2019, the ''Times'' introduced ''Letter Boxed'', in which players form words from letters placed on the edges of a square box, followed in June 2019 by ''Tiles'', a
matching game in which players form sequences of tile pairings, and ''Vertex'', in which players connect vertices to assemble an image. In July 2023, ''The New York Times'' introduced ''
Connections'', in which players identify groups of words that are connected by a common property. In April, the ''Times'' introduced ''Digits'', a game that required using
operations on different values to reach a set number; ''Digits'' was shut down in August. In March 2024, ''The New York Times'' released ''
Strands'', a themed
word search.
In January 2022, The New York Times Company acquired ''
Wordle'', a word game developed by
Josh Wardle in 2021, at a valuation in the "low-seven figures". The acquisition was proposed by David Perpich, a member of the Sulzberger family who proposed the purchase to Knight over
Slack after reading about the game. ''
The Washington Post'' purportedly considered acquiring ''Wordle'', according to ''
Vanity Fair''. At the 2022
Game Developers Conference, Wardle stated that he was overwhelmed by the volume of ''Wordle'' facsimiles and overzealous monetization practices in other games. Concerns over ''The New York Times'' monetizing ''Wordle'' by implementing a paywall mounted; ''Wordle'' is a client-side
browser game and can be played offline by downloading its webpage. ''Wordle'' moved to the ''Times''s servers and website in February. The game was added to the NYT Games application in August, necessitating it be rewritten in the
JavaScript library
React. In November, ''The New York Times'' announced that
Tracy Bennett would be the ''Wordle''s editor.
Other publications
''The New York Times Magazine''
''
The New York Times Magazine'' and ''
The Boston Globe Magazine'' are the only weekly Sunday magazines following ''
The Washington Post Magazine''s cancellation in December 2022.
''The New York Times International Edition''
''The New York Times in Spanish''
In February 2016, ''The New York Times'' introduced a Spanish website, ''The New York Times en Español''. The website, intended to be read on mobile devices, would contain translated articles from the ''Times'' and reporting from journalists based in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. The ''Times en Español''s style editor is Paulina Chavira, who has advocated for pluralistic Spanish to accommodate the variety of nationalities in the newsroom's journalists and wrote a stylebook for ''The New York Times en Español'' Articles the ''Times'' intends to publish in Spanish are sent to a translation agency and adapted for Spanish writing conventions; the present progressive tense may be used for forthcoming events in English, but other tenses are preferable in Spanish. The ''Times en Español'' consults the
Real Academia Española and
Fundéu and frequently modifies the use of diacritics—such as using an acute accent for the
Cártel de Sinaloa but not the
Cartel de Medellín—and using the gender-neutral pronoun
''elle''. Headlines in ''The New York Times en Español'' are not capitalized. The ''Times en Español'' publishes ''El Times'', a newsletter led by Elda Cantú intended for all Spanish speakers. In September 2019, ''The New York Times'' ended ''The New York Times en Español''s separate operations. A study published in ''The Translator'' in 2023 found that the ''Times en Español'' engaged in
tabloidization.
''The New York Times in Chinese''
In June 2012, ''The New York Times'' introduced a Chinese website, , in response to Chinese editions created by ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' and the ''
Financial Times''. Conscious to
censorship, the ''Times'' established servers outside of China and affirmed that the website would uphold the paper's journalistic standards; the
government of China had previously blocked articles from nytimes.com through the
Great Firewall, and the website was blocked in China until August 2001 after then-general secretary
Jiang Zemin met with journalists from ''The New York Times''. Then-foreign editor
Joseph Kahn assisted in the establishment of cn.nytimes.com, an effort that contributed to his appointment as executive editor in April 2022. In October, published an article detailing the wealth of then-premier
Wen Jiabao's family. In response, the government of China blocked access to nytimes.com and cn.nytimes.com and references to the ''Times'' and Wen were censored on microblogging service
Sina Weibo. In March 2015, a
mirror of and the website for
GreatFire were the targets for a government-sanctioned
distributed denial of service attack on
GitHub in March 2015, disabling access to the service for several days. Chinese authorities requested the removal of ''The New York Times''s news applications from the
App Store in December 2016.
Awards and recognition
Awards
As of 2023, ''The New York Times'' has
received 137
Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any publication.
Recognition
''The New York Times'' is considered a
newspaper of record in the United States. The ''Times'' is the largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States; as of 2022, ''The New York Times'' is the
second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States behind ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''.
A study published in ''
Science, Technology, & Human Values'' in 2013 found that ''The New York Times'' received more citations in academic journals than the ''
American Sociological Review'', ''
Research Policy'', or the ''
Harvard Law Review''. With sixteen million unique records, the ''Times'' is the third-most referenced source in
Common Crawl
Common Crawl is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit 501(c) organization#501.28c.29.283.29, 501(c)(3) organization that web crawler, crawls the web and freely provides its archives and datasets to the public. Common Crawl's Web archiving, web arch ...
, a collection of online material used in datasets such as
GPT-3, behind
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...
and a United States patent database.
''
The New Yorker''s Max Norman wrote in March 2023 that the ''Times'' has shaped mainstream English usage. In a January 2018 article for ''
The Washington Post'',
Margaret Sullivan stated that ''The New York Times'' affects the "whole media and political ecosystem".
''The New York Times''s nascent success has led to concerns over media consolidation, particularly amid the
decline of newspapers. In 2006, economists Lisa George and
Joel Waldfogel examined the consequences of the ''Times''s national distribution strategy and audience with circulation of local newspapers, finding that local circulation decreased among college-educated readers. The effect of ''The New York Times'' in this manner was observed in ''
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead'', the newspaper of record for
Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo is the List of cities in North Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, Cass County. The population was 125,990 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which was e ...
. ''
Axios'' founder
Jim VandeHei opined that the ''Times'' is "going to basically be a monopoly" in an opinion piece written by then-media columnist and former ''
BuzzFeed News'' editor-in-chief
Ben Smith; in the article, Smith cites the strength of ''The New York Times''s journalistic workforce, broadening content, and the expropriation of ''
Gawker'' editor-in-chief
Choire Sicha, ''
Recode'' editor-in-chief
Kara Swisher, and ''
Quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
'' editor-in-chief Kevin Delaney. Smith compared the ''Times'' to the
New York Yankees during their
1927 season containing
Murderers' Row.
Controversies
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
''The New York Times'' has received criticism for its coverage of the
Gaza war, and the paper has been accused of holding both an anti-Palestinian and an anti-Israeli bias. In April 2024, ''
The Intercept'' reported that an internal memorandum from November 2023 instructed journalists to reduce using the terms "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" and to avoid using the phrase "occupied territory" in the context of Palestinian land, "Palestine" except in rare circumstances, and the term "refugee camps" to describe areas of Gaza despite recognition from the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. A spokesperson from the ''Times'' stated that issuing guidance was standard practice. An analysis by ''The Intercept'' noted that ''The New York Times'' described Israeli deaths as a massacre nearly sixty times, but had only described Palestinian deaths as a massacre once.
In December 2023, ''The New York Times'' published an investigation titled "
'Screams Without Words': How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7", alleging that
Hamas weaponized
sexual and gender-based violence during its
armed incursion on Israel. The investigation was the subject of an article from ''The Intercept'' questioning the journalistic acumen of
Anat Schwartz, a filmmaker involved in the inquiry who had no prior reporting experience and agreed with a post stating Israel should "violate any norm, on the way to victory", doubting the veracity of the opening claim that Gal Abdush was raped in a timespan disputed by her family, and alleging that the ''Times'' was pressured by the
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. ''The New York Times'' initiated an inquiry that received criticism from
NewsGuild of New York president Susan DeCarava for purported racial targeting; the ''Times''s investigation concluded in ambiguity, but found that journalistic material was handled improperly.
Critics, protesters, and journalists have charged that the newspaper's biased reporting in favor of Israel during the
Gaza war amounts to complicity in and manufacturing consent for the
Gaza genocide. An April 2024 internal memo by Susan Wessling and
Philip Pan restricted journalists covering the Gaza war from using the words "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" in their reporting. Writer and editors have left the newspaper due to its coverage of events in Gaza.
Transgender people
''The New York Times'' has received criticism regarding its coverage of
transgender people. When it published an opinion piece by
Weill Cornell Medicine professor
Richard A. Friedman called "How Changeable Is Gender?" in August 2015, ''
Vox''s German Lopez criticized Friedman as suggesting that parents and doctors might be right in letting children suffer from severe dysphoria in case something changes down the line, and as implying that conversion therapy may work for transgender children. In February 2023, nearly one thousand current and former ''Times'' writers and contributors wrote an open letter addressed to standards editor Philip B. Corbett, criticizing the paper's coverage of transgender,
non-binary, and
gender-nonconforming people; some of the ''Times articles have been cited in state legislatures attempting to justify criminalizing gender-affirming care. Contributors wrote in the open letter that "the ''Times'' has in recent years treated
gender diversity with an eerily familiar mix of
pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language, while publishing reporting on
trans children that omits relevant information about its sources."
Notes
References
Citations
Works cited
''The New York Times''
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Further reading
;''The New York Times''
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External links
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''The New York Times'' TimesMachine''The New York Times''at The Online Books Page
''The New York Times'' 1854–1969at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
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{{DEFAULTSORT:New York Times, The
1851 establishments in New York (state)
Daily newspapers published in New York City
Gerald Loeb Award winners for Deadline and Beat Reporting
National newspapers published in the United States
Newspapers established in 1851
Peabody Award winners
Podcasting companies
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners
Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners
Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers
Tor onion services