All The News That’s Fit To Print? The Decline of the New York Times

For many years, The New York Times has been called the “newspaper of record”. This has been in tribute to the very high quality of journalism that that paper had as well as the comprehensiveness of its reporting, locally, domestically and internationally. That was then. What is the Times’ position today? As many newspapers have declined in quality as well as quantity, that is, the number of papers sold, many changes have occurred in the news industry. Most people, since the widespread availability of the internet, have stopped buying papers. Surveys have indicated that most consumers obtain their news from television, internet editions of newspapers and various social media of varying reliability and repute. Newspapers and news magazines have lost much of their previous quality and importantly, advertising, circulation and revenue.

The New York Times online offers to subscribers a feature referred to as the Times Machine which enables the user to see articles or the entire newspaper on any particular date. That is a wonderful source of information but also allows for a comparison of what is in the Times today and what they published in the past. An example of the type of articles published in today’s (Oct. 15, 2021) issue is an example of how the “newspaper of record” has sunk to be one more gossip sheet of little value.

Do these stress relieving drinks really work?

How Xenia Rubino freed herself on a new album “Una Rosa”.

Men’s jeans we love.

How a missing sock changed my life.

Beyond Chucky: Frightening alternatives for Halloween TV.

At Rwanda’s favorite bars, forget the beer, what’s on tap is milk.

How Lili Taylor, actress and birder, spends her Sundays.

Meet me in my office, in men’s underwear on 5.

Homes for sale in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx.

I confess to not having read these articles as the titles provide enough information to me to decide that I have little interest in them. The New York Times is in a race to the bottom as it competes with the New York Post for the title of trashiest paper in the Big Apple. Reaching for the lowest common denominator is obviously the goal of today’s New York Times. What a shame it has become from what it was.

Garry S. Sklar

Las Vegas, NV

October 15, 2021