PressEthic

This week The New York Times is launching an advertising campaign, complete with its own website, to kick off its ‘new’ slogan, ‘These times demand the Times”, used in the mid-1980s. According to a New York Times Co. press release that came out on Sept. 15, the campaign is:

“focusing on the high-quality journalism produced by Times reporters in print and online.”

Yet does The New York Times, even after the Jayson Blair scandal, really need to reiterate its credibility, relevance and high standards of reporting? Could the Times, revered among journalists and journalism students, feel the heat to compete more effectively in new media markets?

According to a blog in gawker.com:

“the brand (as opposed to say, the journalism) is pretty unassailable in the sphere of daily newspapers.”

So if the paper's reputation is still very much in tact, why did the Times decide to launch an expensive advertising campaign? (Advertising spots are planned to air during "Good Morning America," "The Office," "Grey's Anatomy," etc.)

According to an article in Advertising Age:

“Even if the campaign somehow succeeds only in giving the newsroom a swell of pride – in a way that ‘Expect the World’ did not [the former Times slogan] – that might be benefit enough for now.”

Or maybe it was just time for a change. I never liked the old slogan anyway.