From its Inception in 1851 the New York Times has collected accolades as though they are going out of style. The NYT has received 108 Pulitzer Prizes and had more than two (2) million papers printed daily. Today the circulation has dropped to just around 1.5 million copies daily making it the third largest newspaper in the United States of America. The excellent documentary Page One highlighted the tumultuous time that saw the closure of many Newspapers across the USA. It was a time when even the venerable New York Times was shaken and stirred especially the uncertainty that seemed to permeate the news makers working in the News Room.
The News Room or Engine Room of the New York Times was for many years seen as the pinnacle of Journalistic achievement. To have made it in Media or as a serious journalist you had to be working at the New York Times.
What made the Old Gray Lady so special? It is not as though the New York Times (NYT) was the first to hire a woman journalist. While Jane Grant was one of the first female Journalists at the NYT her experience at the NYT was less than satisfactory. It was not until 2010 that the NYT had its first Female Executive Editor in Jill Abramson. So the NYT was not at the forefront of equal opportunity.
The NYT was not the first to introduce colour photographs in fact the paper was one of the last in the USA to have colour photographs. A point that may seem innocuous today but was quite an ‘un-revolution’ back in the day. Again the NYT was not the first to embrace new technology.
Perhaps the fact that the NYT has been at the forefront of breaking scandals and exposing the underbelly of political, economical and social injustice has given the paper a sense of gravitas. From the exposé of the Pentagon Papers when Daniel Ellsberg, a former State Department official, leaked papers that had damming evidence of the USAs time in Vietnam War. To the exposé of the ‘Collateral Murder’ video that showed the US airstrikes on civilians that were carrying cameras instead of guns from the whistleblower website Wikileaks.
Both the stories brought to light the lies and shameful conduct by the US government. These well researched and thoroughly fact checked stories were well written and were beyond reproach in journalistic integrity.
So is the NYT all about exposé’s and being the voice against the US government? Looking at the history of coverage by the NYT and some of the cadre of personnel who work at the prestigious address; 620 Eight Avenue, Manhattan NY it is clear that trustworthiness makes the NYT such an institution.
The motto ‘All the news that is Fit to Print’ ran deeper than just a catchy slogan. While the web is a place that anyone can post anything, the integrity and trustworthiness of the NYT online content brings a sense that the principles that governed the print version also undergirds their online content.
Moving into the digital age and user pays subscription model has been a master stroke. A move that no one would predict the Old Gray Lady would undertake. But go online she did. Dusting off her old fashioned bonnet and cardigan the Gray Lady embraced a quite unfashionable position: Paid online content. Surely news on the internet is free?
But 30 million unique site visitors a day shows that the admirers have continued to come because what the NYT brings to the Media world is not just style or a unique voice but substance. The Old Gray Lady has come a long way.
i-Write.com.au 