The Paper of 404

The NYT unfurled a new banner: “Welcome to the new Global Edition of NYTimes.com. Learn More | Switch to U.S. Edition”—and, in the process, broke countless links accumulated over the last many years. The IHT’s publisher, Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, noted without a hint of irony: “I do hope you will enjoy exploring all that the new Global Edition has to offer.” As AT&T put it: You will—by spending countless hours performing necromantic rituals on dead links.

As we asked, when the NYT initially gave a Gmail address in soliciting images of the splash-landing in the Hudson, then later added an email address at nyt.com: “Since when does nyt.com redirect to nytimes.com?” syskill commented:

My guess is the Metro Desk editors asked, “Hey, can our mail system handle thousands of image files from thousands of senders over a few minutes?” And the IT department *RESPONDED*, “Hell no! Use Gmail for that.”

Another desk—one not slated for destruction within a few months—might have gotten a different response. The NYObserver reports (30 Mar ’09) that

[t]he New York Times plans to eliminate several weekly sections, including its stand-alone City Section, newsroom sources have told The Observer. There are also discussions to eliminate the regional weeklies in New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester and Connecticut, and the Friday Escapes section as well, a source said. The timeline is unclear for now, but another newsroom staffer told us that City has only four issues left.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the NYT’s real-estate coverage as the “paper” tries to go global.

See also:Whiter shade of gray.”

Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.