Remembering When The 'New York Times' Had Something To Celebrate
With readership declining, many papers have folded. Other family-owned papers have been taken over by chains, and corporate ownership is thought to have changed many newspapers’ priorities for the worse.
But yesterday’s events asserted the strengths of a family-run paper, the applicability of Mr. Ochs’s journalistic principles today and the belief that, as the current publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., put it, good journalism is good business.
“Yesterday’s events”-14 years ago this weekend-were part of the New York Times’ centennial celebration of Ochs-Sulzberger family ownership. They culminated in a black tie event at the Met’s Temple of Dendur, where “100 musicians with 100 violins were hired to serenade the guests,” who included then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani, then-governor George Pataki, Mort Zuckerman and more.
Other guests included Joseph Heller, Tina Brown, Harold Evans, Beverly Sills, Brooke Astor, Amanda Burden, Ellen Futter, Abraham D. Beame, Ted Koppel, John Gutfreund, Andre Bishop, Bill Blass and Pauline Trigere. Sam Waterston and Kate Nelligan were there to play Adolph and Effie Ochs. Martha Stewart called the event a birthday party. Others described it as historic.
The first course was lobster tarragon with artichoke and cucumber salad. It actually seems like a very long time ago, right?