Pressure of Truth
Exposing the spin on all sides of the news.
Outlet profile

New York Times (coverage of itself

U.S. center-left (liberal-leaning editorial page; news pages aim for traditional straight reporting)

Owned byThe New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a publicly traded firm controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family. As of March 2026, the family trust and a related entity held about 94.6% of Class B stock. Class B shares elect about 70% of the board and carry ten times the voting power of public Class A shares. A.G. Sulzberger is publisher and chairman.
FundingMainly digital and print subscriptions, plus advertising and licensing. It reported about 13.35 million digital-only subscribers at the end of Q2 2026 (announced Aug. 5, 2026). Its bundle includes Games, Cooking, Wirecutter and The Athletic. It has no billionaire or state funding.
On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

The paper was founded in 1851 and has been run by Adolph Ochs's descendants since his 1896 purchase. The Times Company went public in 1969 but kept family control through Class B stock. Over the past decade it shifted from print and advertising toward digital subscriptions, adding The Athletic (2022), Wirecutter and games. Its news reporting is widely regarded as high-quality and has won many Pulitzer Prizes. Critics on the right say its news coverage and framing lean liberal. Critics on the left say it is too cautious or too "both-sides" toward Trump. Past controversies include its pre-Iraq War reporting on weapons of mass destruction (later partly disavowed), the 2020 Tom Cotton op-ed dispute and 2023 criticism of its coverage of transgender issues. In September 2025 Trump sued the Times, several of its reporters and Penguin Random House for $15 billion in a Florida federal court. In July 2026 Judge Merryday let him amend the complaint, which had to be refiled by Aug. 27, before ruling on the Times' motion to dismiss. The Times also sued the Pentagon over its press-credential rules. In March 2026 a federal judge ruled the policy unconstitutional and ordered seven Times reporters' credentials restored, and the Times challenged the Pentagon's later restrictions. Because the Times is a party in these disputes, its coverage of them is coverage of itself.

Sources

  1. New York Times Co – Form DEF 14A (FY2026 proxy statement)
  2. New York Times Co – Form 8-K, Q2 2026 results
  3. Judge sides with New York Times in challenge to Pentagon policy limiting reporters' access (PBS NewsHour)
  4. Trump Allowed by Judge to Amend $15 Billion Suit Against NYT (Bloomberg)
  5. Trump files $15 billion defamation lawsuit against 'New York Times' (NPR)

Profile compiled 2026-10-11; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

← Back to track record