In August 1896, Chattanooga Times publisher Adolph Ochs acquired The New-York Times, implementing significant alterations to the newspaper's structure. Ochs established the Times as a merchant's newspaper and removed the hyphen from the newspaper's name. In 1905, The New York Times opened the Times Tower, marking expansion. The Times experienced a political realignment in the 1910s amid several disagreements within the Republican Party. The New York Times reported on the sinking of the Titanic as other newspapers were cautious about bulletins from the Associated Press. Through managing editor Carr Van Anda, the Times focused on scientific advancements, reporting on Albert Einstein's then-unknown theory of general relativity and becoming involved in the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
In April 1935, Ochs died, leaving his son-in-law Arthur Hays Sulzberger as publisher. The Great Depression forced Sulzberger to reduce the Timess operations, and developments in the New York newspaper landscape resulted in the formation of larger newspapers, such as the New York Herald Tribune and the New York World-Telegram. In contrast to Ochs, Sulzberger encouraged wirephotography.
The New York Times extensively covered World War II through large headlines, reporting on exclusive stories such as the Yugoslav coup d'état. Amid the war, Sulzberger began expanding the Timess operations further, acquiring WQXR-FM in 1944—the first non-Times investment since the Jones era—and established a fashion show in Times Hall. Despite reductions as a result of conscription, The New York Times retained the largest journalism staff of any newspaper. The Timess print edition became available internationally during the war through the Army & Air Force Exchange Service; The New York Times Overseas Weekly later became available in Japan through The Asahi Shimbun and in Germany through the Frankfurter Zeitung. The international edition would develop into a separate newspaper. Journalist William L. Laurence publicized the atomic bomb race between the United States and Germany, resulting in the Federal Bureau of Investigation seizing copies of the Times. The United States government recruited Laurence to document the Manhattan Project in April 1945. Laurence became the only witness of the Manhattan Project, a detail realized by employees of The New York Times following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
1896–1900: Ochs's purchase and revitalization
In May 1895, Chattanooga Times publisher Adolph Ochs considered purchasing the New York Mercury, a dying Democratic publication that supported the free silver movement, at the behest of his acquaintance Leopold Wallach. Ochs was still recovering from the panic of 1893 and did not want to build up another newspaper business in the South; a deal for the Nashville American fell through. Wallach was a noted opponent of free silver but befriended some of the "silver senators" who built the Mercury into a Democratic organ. Likewise, Ochs supported the gold standard, as did the Chattanooga Times. By the fall of 1875, Ochs was actively interested in purchasing the New York Mercury but stipulated that he must have control over its editorial content. He thoroughly examined the paper's plant and financials. The deal fell through in March 1896 after the Mercurys owners included a clause allowing them to vacate the plant and after Ochs discovered that the United Press was unwilling to transfer publishers.
On March 12, 1896—his 38th birthday—Ochs received a telegram from Harry Alloway, a member of The New-York Timess Wall Street staff. Alloway, who had previously met him at a trip to Tennessee in 1890, informed Ochs of the Timess situation and proposed that he should purchase the paper. Chicago Times-Herald publisher H. H. Kohlsaat convinced him that he would have the caliber to run The New-York Times, and, after talking with stockholder Sam Thomas and Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company founder Charles Ranlett Flint, Alloway gave Ochs the opportunity to purchase the Times if he ran it for at least a year without incurring debt. After hearing that Alloway persuaded Thomas and Flint, Wallach became as eager as Ochs was. Ochs began meeting with other figures, including Charles Ransom Miller, Flint, and Spencer Trask. Flint and Trask developed a plan to reorganize the company, but it required more money than Ochs could provide. A portion of stockholders believed that The New-York Times should consolidate with The New York Recorder to form the Times-Recorder Company. Efforts to consolidate the two companies fell through after Miller and Edward Cary put the Times into the receivership of Alfred Ely, who doubted Ochs's ability to stave off Hearst, Pulitzer, and James Gordon Bennett Jr., but had a change of heart upon meeting with him.
Rumors in Printing House Square began circulating, with the most prominent stating that Wall Street would control The New-York Times with Ochs at the helm. The rumor cited J. P. Morgan and August Belmont's ownership of () in debenture. In mid-June 1896, stockholders accepted Ochs's plan to form a new company with a capital of 10,000 shares worth (). As a persuasive, Ochs offered fifteen shares for () bond. He purchased 1,125 shares of stock through bonds worth a total of () and placed the remaining stock, 3,876 shares, in escrow, giving him 5,001 shares of the 10,000 shares. The plan was declared operative on July 2. Court proceedings dragged throughout the summer; Ochs accused Elys of intentionally delaying the court procedure and told his wife, Effie, "He will certainly not be on my board of directors. He has cooked his goose with me. He has given me entirely too much anxiety to enlist my future friendship."
On August 13, 1896, Ochs officially purchased The New-York Times, and he was formally installed at 3:30 p.m. on August 18, the same day he moved into his office at 71 Park Row. The following day, the Times carried his declaration of principle, drafted with Effie. In the following months, he would come to know his staff. He displayed a particular admiration for Henry Loewenthal, a business-minded editor who eventually became managing editor until 1904. With Loewenthal, Ochs introduced a section entitled, "Arrival of Buyers" on September 20, 1896, that solidified The New-York Times as a merchant's newspaper. Loewenthal himself received a Monday financial review on November 8, 1897, eventually becoming a separate Times publication titled The Annalist. Ochs's focus on business news was met with ridicule from general news reporters, but ultimately brought new readers and advertising. In comparison to other publishers, he expanded the letter to the editor section and allowed critics of the Times to write to editors. Ochs respected Frederick Craig Mortimer, a columnist, and allowed him to start a section titled "Topics of The Times". Mortimer retired in 1926 and was replaced by Simeon Strunsky.
By 1869, readers sought to buy newspapers that were exclusively newspapers. Charles Anderson Dana's The Sun favored features over full coverage of the news. Newspapers that billed themselves as exclusively news—the New York Mercury, The New York Recorder, and the New-York Commercial Advertiser—were dying. The New York Tribune purchased the Recorder that year and inherited the paper's use of lithographs. In one Sunday issue, the Tribune gave away a lithograph of a basket of strawberries and a bottle of champagne. The move was so controversial that the Tribune ended the lithographs. Pulitzer's New York World berated the Times for "[losing] []". Ochs continued to run the Times as usual as Dana mounted attacks against the paper and yellow journalism. He implemented a series of trivial changes, including removing Miller's fiction, altering the kerning and thinning the columns, bought better newsprint and ink, removed advertisements that generated the paper no revenue, and implemented datelines. He purchased nascent automatic space-equalizers to speed up production. The Sunday supplement, first issued on September 6, 1898, focused on current events, in comparison to the reused material other newspapers used at the time. In December, The New-York Times became The New York Times.
In October, the staff of The New-York Times tentatively chose the slogan, "All the News That's Fit to Print", but created a contest to decide a better name, judged by The Century Magazine editor Richard Watson Gilder. Entries were limited: the motto or phrase could not exceed more than ten words—a clause many contestants ignored—and the Times ignored entries from women. The author of the winning submission would receive (). A variety of slogans were entered in thousands of postcards, including rhymes—"We use all news fit to peruse"—and at least one acrostic—"The Information Mankind Earnestly Seeks"—with many containing a "pure" or "clean" undertone. The winner was D.M. Redfield of New Haven, Connecticut, who penned, "All The World's News, but Not a School for Scandal". Although Ochs enjoyed the slogan, he ultimately stuck with his original slogan, first printed on October 25, 1896. It became a part of the front page on February 10, 1897. The contest earned the paper further recognition nationally; the slogan has since become a leitmotif of American journalism. The slogan was also materialized in electric lights on the north side of the Cumberland Hotel on 22nd Street and was chanted by a group of Times staff marching in the Sound Money Parade.
The Spanish–American War in 1898 brought about a new set of challenges for Ochs. Hearst and Pulitzer were able to send dispatch boats and correspondents at a rate met only by Bennett. The New York Times prominently displayed the Associated Press's coverage to compensate and entered into a combination with the New York Evening Mail and the Commercial Advertiser; neither effort succeeded. In a final move, he lowered the price back to one cent () in October. The announcement was met by condemnation. The Journalist argued that readers would pay for any price and that the Times would not attract new readers. The Buffalo Express invoked Raymond and Jones's legacy in their critique. Yellow publications spread the rumor that The New York Times was being financed by Tammany Hall leader Richard Croker and that lowering the price would benefit the Democratic Party. Firmly, Ochs pushed forward. Within a month, production increased from five to eight times more in some districts. Within a year, circulation went from 25,726 to 76,220.
1900–1908: Ochs era, international recognition, and Times Tower
In January 1900, Adolph Ochs sent for his brother and Chattanooga Times general manager, George, to print a special edition of The New York Times at that year's Paris Exposition. At a cost of (), George established six Linotype machines, an octuple Goss press, and a stereotyping plant. The plant was ready by March; it was visited by Leopold II of Belgium, who personally shook hands with Ochs. The special edition ran from June to October of that year. In Inter Ocean Publishing Co. v. Associated Press (1900), the Supreme Court of Illinois ruled that the Associated Press was a public utility, allowing The New York Times to receive full membership from its Class B status. In addition, Ochs became a chartered member and served on its board for twenty years. The reorganization committee was dissolved on July 1. In October, an alliance with The Times of London was discussed. Charles Frederic Moberly Bell, manager of The Times of London, proposed lending stories to the Times for a minimum of () and forming the International Times. The resulting paper could have had an impact on Bennett's Paris Herald, but plans failed to materialize. At least one factor was that Ochs may have been labelled an Anglophile. The New York Times later purchased exclusive rights to The Times of Londons coverage and shared expenses during special events, such as the Russo-Japanese War.