【Business Relationship】

The Business RelationshipNew York Times has changed a lot in the past 10 years, embracing digital subscriptions and growing into online video and specialty areas like cooking.

It has not been enough to prepare the company for the future, according to the paper's own 2020 report released on Tuesday.

"While the past two years have been a time of significant innovation, the pace must accelerate," the authors wrote in the opening of the report. "Too often, digital progress has been accomplished through workarounds; now we must tear apart the barriers. We must differentiate between mission and tradition: what we do because it’s essential to our values and what we do because we’ve always done it."

---

You May Also Like

---

---

The report, authored by an internal committee at the Times, provides a snapshot of how far the paper has come in changing itself for the digital age while also pointing out what needs to be done. It is the second such report from the company, which released its "Open Innovation" report in 2012.

It comes as buyouts and layoffs loom for the Times,a topic not touched on in the report. A note from executive editor Dean Baquet and managing editor Joe Kahn sent to Timesstaff said that "budget cuts this year" will be laid out "in the coming weeks and months."

Also announced on Tuesday is the Timesrenewed efforts for covering the upcoming Donald Trump administration — for which the paper is budgeting an additional $5 million.

The areas that need improvement are focused on the newsroom, particularly in the tools and internal structures that journalists must deal with to produce their work.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Many of the report's recommendations are familiar to anyone who closely follows the Times or newspapers in general: A shift away from print's outsized importance on the newsroom's operations, better ways to include multimedia in stories and a renewed effort at creating more a diverse newsroom with a variety of skills.

Oh, and more subscribers. Definitely way more subscribers. The paper has an ongoing goal that started in 2016 of doubling digital revenue to $800 million by 2020.

"To secure our future, we need to expand substantially our number of subscribers by 2020."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The report also calls into some question that formats on which the Times — and most other newspapers — rely on, namely a mix of news stories and features that are text heavy.

"Too much of our daily report remains dominated by long strings of text," the report states.

The report stresses that the Times should do more to educate readers. It points to the acquisition of The Wirecutter and the new Smarter Living section as the kind of thing the paper needs to do more.

"Our readers are hungry for advice from The Times. Too often, we don’t offer it, or offer it only in print-centric forms," the report states.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the report comes at the very bottom in the form of critiques from the paper's own journalists, who have been granted anonymity in the report.

Reporters said they would like to see less incremental news, flexibility in choice of how to tell certain stories, and some disagreement about what kind of tone the Times should embrace going forward.

"Emotion is not something we tend to embrace, and we should. It’s a major driver of loyalty. Of connection.... We write too often in a male executive voice, which tends to push away many readers we should be bringing close," said one person quoted in the report.

• Life
• Shopping
• Games
• Entertainment
• Tech
• Science
• Deals
• Social Good

• Camera lenses literally melted during the solar eclipse
• Data scientist amid Facebook scandal didn't know of voter targeting
• Kid's heartwarming note to his dad has a spectacularly no
• Child pornography links found in Bitcoin's blockchain
• Then and Now: 6 Generations of GeForce Graphics Compared
• Sketchfab Download API imports 3D models to Modo, Amazon, and more
• Tune in to the 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' marathon on Twitch
• This student on a theme park ride has seen things you wouldn't believe
• Sony launches new flagship XM6 headphones: Order them now
• Hulu is streaming NCAA basketball in new March Madness Experience

• 'House of Cards' teaser sees Claire Underwood addressing the nation
• Couple finds sassy note from previous homeowner while remodeling bathroom
• Nine organizations that can help you mobilize against Trump
• An essential guide to the overwhelming world of non
• 3 women hailed as heroes after thwarting alleged date rape attempt
• How the Apple Measure app in iOS 12 works
• Superbug resistant to last
• Netflix is removing written user reviews
• Elon Musk building 'kid
• Stumbleupon died right when we needed it the most

• Sunday's Fat Bear Week match pits two fat favorites against each other
• Arctic ice floes trapped and sunk ships in the Atlantic Ocean in 2017
• The Weinstein Company voids nondisclosure deals in bankruptcy filing
• 'PUBG Mobile' lands on Android and iOS devices, and it's free
• Analyzing Graphics Card Pricing: October 2018
• Roger Federer puts an end to the tennis ball color debate
• Report: Trump plans sanctions on Venezuela's 'Petro' cryptocurrency
• Facebook suspends Cambridge Analytica
• Best robot vacuum deal: Eufy Omni C20 robot vacuum and mop $300 off at Amazon
• It’s the first day of spring and cold people everywhere are pissed

• SpaceX's Starlink satellite launch in pictures
• Cambridge Analytica used self
• Mark Hamill got an unexpected reminder of Carrie Fisher in a hotel room
• Apple is reportedly working on its own MicroLED screens
• Then and Now: Almost 10 Years of Intel CPUs Compared
• The tech talent gap is real. Increased diversity is the solution.
• Wayfair launches Android augmented reality app using Google's ARCore
• Roger Federer puts an end to the tennis ball color debate
• Today's Hurdle hints and answers for May 9, 2025
• Facebook's 'biggest ever data breach' left 50 million exposed in 2014