On September 18, 1851, a brand-new newspaper called the New-York Daily Times printed its very first edition. It cost one penny and promised to deliver fair, careful news in a city already crowded with loud, exaggerated papers. The founders, journalist Henry Raymond and banker George Jones, wanted readers to trust their reporting. The first issue sold 9,000 copies and the writers must have felt like nothing could go wrong, although the second issue caused a small disaster when the printing press broke down.
Over the next century the paper shortened its name to The New York Times and slowly built a reputation for sending reporters to the toughest places in the world. Its journalists covered the U.S. Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic, the moon landing, and almost every major event since. The Times has won more than 130 Pulitzer Prizes, the biggest award in American journalism, far more than any other paper. Its motto, All the News That's Fit to Print, has appeared in the top corner of the front page since 1897.
Today The New York Times has more than 10 million paying subscribers around the world, most of them reading on phones rather than paper. It also runs some of the most addicting puzzles on the internet, including the daily crossword, Wordle, Spelling Bee, and Connections. Newsrooms in dozens of countries study the way The Times investigates stories and uses graphics, podcasts, and games to keep readers coming back. Not bad for a one-penny paper that printed its first edition with a busted press.
