The New York Times

Overall Score Corrections Ownership Staff Policies Reporting Policies Interactivity 3.4

Ranking: Excellent. Details of Findings: There is a corrections page and the corrections link is labeled clearly on the homepage and one click away. The corrections page has a link to the original story with the correction. The corrections page also provides a link to contact the editor. The owner information can be found easily.  It is listed on the home page within two clicks. Both a code of ethics and information on conflicts of interest are clearly defined. There is no single link that will take visitors to the Times’ reporting policies. Some of the Times’ general news standards as well as information about the New York Times Company are outlined in downloadable pdf booklet titled “Social Responsibility,” which can be found several clicks away from the home page, from the original “About Us” category. But the clearest set of statements about the Times’ news policies can be found on the Web Journal of the paper’s ombudsman (called “public editor“). Documents linked to there include several internal documents about reporting guidelines and staff policies, including the paper’s 2004 “Ethical Journalism” handbook, and the paper’s 1999 “Guidelines on Our Integrity.” In short, the Times’ is to be commended for being willing to post those documents, but unless a visitor knows that they are there they are not intuitively found. In fact, before the paper’s former public editor, Byron Calame, wrote a column about them in May 2007, the earlier 1999 guidelines, while “even more specific on some matters” than the 2004 handbook, was essentially lost to the public eye–even he himself “had forgotten about [it] until recently.” Ombudsman:  The outlet has an ombudsman and there is a link to the ombudsman (or “public editor”) on the Web site. A link is provided to send letters to the editor.  A link also is provided to view letters to the editor.  The outlet does not list any specific email addresses of reporters. Blogs by reporters are available. No live chats were available on the site. Comments were notavailable on the site after each story. (Carrie Peirce and Lauren Scott)

About The New York Times

Circulation/Audience • 1,103,600 daily; 1,637,700 Sunday – 2006 average
Online Access • Most NYT articles can be read free of charge and without logging in. Select articles, however (TimesSelect) require a NYT login and online subscription. These articles are primarily opinion and feature pieces.
Parent Company • The New York Times Company http://www.nytco.com/index.html
Other Relevant Ownership and Interests •
The International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/
The Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/news/globe/
15 other daily newspapers and 9 network affiliated TV stations
http://www.nytco.com/company-othersites.html
Parent Company Revenue • $3.3 Billion (2006)

 

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