The New York Times

==Style and design==
===Style guide===
{{Main|The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage{{!}}''The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage''}}
Since 1895, ''The New York Times'' has maintained a [[The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage|manual of style]] in several forms. ''The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage'' was published on the ''Times''{{'}}s [[intranet]] in 1999.{{Sfn|Kallaur|2016}}

''The New York Times'' uses [[honorific]]s when referring to individuals. With the ''[[AP Stylebook]]''{{'}}s removal of honorifics in 2000 and ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''{{'}}s omission of courtesy titles in May 2023, the ''Times'' is the only national newspaper that continues to use honorifics. According to former copy editor Merrill Perlman, ''The New York Times'' continues to use honorifics as a "sign of civility".{{Sfn|Branign|2023}} The ''Times''{{'}}s use of courtesy titles led to an apocryphal rumor that the paper had referred to singer [[Meat Loaf]] as "Mr. Loaf".{{Sfn|Stevens|2022}} Several exceptions have been made; the former sports section and ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' do not use honorifics.{{Sfn|Padnani|Chambers|2020}} A leaked memo following the [[killing of Osama bin Laden]] in May 2011 revealed that editors were given a last-minute instruction to omit the honorific from [[Osama bin Laden]]'s name, consistent with deceased figures of historic significance, such as [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Napoleon]], and [[Vladimir Lenin]].{{Sfn|Bonner|2011}} ''The New York Times'' uses academic and military titles for individuals prominently serving in that position.{{Sfn|Corbett|2017}} In 1986, the ''Times'' began to use [[Ms.|Ms]],{{Sfn|Padnani|Chambers|2020}} and introduced the gender-neutral title [[Mx.]] in 2015.{{Sfn|Corbett|2015}} ''The New York Times'' uses initials when a subject has expressed a preference, such as [[Donald Trump]].{{Sfn|Bagli|2016}}

''The New York Times'' maintains a strict but not absolute obscenity policy, including phrases. In a review of the Canadian [[hardcore punk]] band [[Fucked Up]], music critic [[Kelefa Sanneh]] wrote that the band's name—entirely rendered in asterisks—would not be printed in the ''Times'' "unless an American president, or someone similar, says it by mistake";{{Sfn|Sanneh|2007}} ''The New York Times'' did not repeat then-vice president [[Dick Cheney]]'s use of "fuck" against then-senator [[Patrick Leahy]] in 2004{{Sfn|Stolberg|2004}} or then-vice president [[Joe Biden]]'s remarks that the passage of the [[Affordable Care Act]] in 2010 was a "big fucking deal".{{Sfn|Herszenhorn|2010}} The ''Times''{{'}}s profanity policy has been tested by former president [[Donald Trump]]. ''The New York Times'' published Trump's [[Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape|''Access Hollywood'' tape]] in October 2016 containing the words "fuck", "pussy", "bitch", and "tits", the first time the publication had published an expletive on its front page,{{Sfn|Eskin|2016}} and repeated an explicit phrase for fellatio stated by then-[[White House]] communications director [[Anthony Scaramucci]] in July 2017.{{Sfn|LaFrance|2017}} ''The New York Times'' omitted Trump's use of the phrase "[[shithole countries]]" from its headline in favor of "vulgar language" in January 2018.{{Sfn|Grynbaum|2018}} The ''Times'' banned certain words, such as "bitch", "whore", and "sluts", from ''[[Wordle]]'' in 2022.{{Sfn|Diaz|2022a}}

===Headlines===
Journalists for ''The New York Times'' do not write their own headlines, but rather copy editors who specifically write headlines. The ''Times''{{'}}s guidelines insist headline editors get to the main point of an article but avoid giving away endings, if present. Other guidelines include using slang "sparingly", avoiding [[Tabloid journalism|tabloid headlines]], not ending a line on a preposition, article, or adjective, and chiefly, not to pun. ''[[The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage]]'' states that wordplay, such as "Rubber Industry Bounces Back", is to be tested on a colleague as a [[Canary in a coal mine|canary is to be tested in a coal mine]]; "when no song bursts forth, start rewriting".{{Sfn|Hiltner|2017b}} ''The New York Times'' has amended headlines due to controversy. In 2019, following two back-to-back mass shootings in [[2019 El Paso shooting|El Paso]] and [[2019 Dayton shooting|Dayton]], the ''Times'' used the headline, "Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism", to describe then-president [[Donald Trump]]'s words after the shootings. After criticism from ''[[FiveThirtyEight]]'' founder [[Nate Silver]], the headline was changed to, "Assailing Hate But Not Guns".{{Sfn|Chiu|2019}}

Online, ''The New York Times''{{'}}s headlines do not face the same length restrictions as headlines that appear in print; print headlines must fit within a column, often six words. Additionally, headlines must "break" properly, containing a complete thought on each line without splitting up prepositions and adverbs. Writers may edit a headline to fit an article more aptly if further developments occur. The ''Times'' uses [[A/B testing]] for articles on the front page, placing two headlines against each other. At the end of the test, the headlines that receives more traffic is chosen.{{Sfn|Bulik|2016}} The alteration of a headline regarding intercepted Russian data used in the [[Mueller special counsel investigation]] was noted by Trump in a March 2017 interview with ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', in which he claimed that the headline used the word "wiretapped" in the print version of the paper on January 20, while the digital article on January 19 omitted the word. The headline was intentionally changed in the print version to use "wiretapped" in order to fit within the print guidelines.{{Sfn|Symonds|2017}}

===Nameplate===
The nameplate of ''The New York Times'' has been unaltered since 1967. In creating the initial nameplate, [[Henry Jarvis Raymond]] sought to model ''[[The London Times]]'', which used [[textura]] popularized following the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] and regional variations of [[Alcuin]]'s script, as well as a period. With the change to ''The New-York Times'' on September 14, 1857, the nameplate followed. Under [[George Jones (publisher)|George Jones]], the [[terminal (typography)|terminal]]s of the "N", "r", and "s" were intentionally exaggerated into swashes. The nameplate in the January 15, 1894, issue trimmed the terminals once more, smoothed the edges, and turned the stem supporting the "T" into an ornament. The hyphen was dropped on December 1, 1896, after [[Adolph Ochs]] purchased the paper. The [[descender]] of the "h" was shortened on December 30, 1914. The largest change to the nameplate was introduced on February 21, 1967, when type designer [[Ed Benguiat]] redesigned the logo, most prominently turning the arrow ornament into a diamond. Notoriously, the new logo dropped the period that remained with the ''Times'' up until that point; one reader compared the omission of the period to "performing plastic surgery on [[Helen of Troy]]." Picture editor John Radosta worked with a [[New York University]] professor to determine that dropping the period saved the paper {{USD|41.28}} ({{Inflation|US|41.28|1967|fmt=eq|r=2}}).{{Sfn|Dunlap|2017b}}