A Day in the Life of The New York Times

by Ruth Adler

What kind of a day was February 28, 1969? An ordinary one in the life of The New York Times, but even an ordinary day at The Times crackles with excitement and tension as the news of the world flows into the paper's block-long newsroom:

Nixon meets with DeGaulle in Paris . . . an earthquake hits Portugal and Morocco . . . a military coup threatens Syria . . . former President Eisenhower develops pneumonia. . . .

Ruth Adler asked reporters, editors, copyboys and pressmen to keep notes on February 28 (a day picked at random), and she has pulled them all together into an extraordinary hour-by-hour description of how a single issue of the paper is created. She begins with the foreign correspondents getting an filing their stories from stations around the world and end as the last paper rolls off the presses at 3 A.M. In between, the process of putting out a great newspaper is recorded, full of personalities and anecdotes, inside information, and bits of Times lore.

In the best journalistic tradition, Miss Adler has written a book that is a masterpiece of reporting–lucid, fascinating, informative.

Genres: Nonfiction

242 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Jim Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew i wanted to be a newspaper reporter at an early age, and reading this amazing book in the 9th grade whetted my appetite all the more. Reading it again almost 50 years later is like stepping back into another world where the news business had more style and panache. It also gives you an incredible sense of how technology has transformed our world. I can imagine young people reading this book today and thinking it was published in the dark ages. Nevertheless, this is the quintessential book on the inner workings of newspapers. It’s a dazzling piece of work, with enormous detail, and it harkens me back to a time when the world seemed to offer so much potential for me. I never made it to the New York Times as the young me hoped to do, but I did make to the New York Daily News. This book provided me a great and sustaining dream and, although my dreams changed, The story continues to grow influence how I feel about he future.

[JTGlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teaching Journalism and this was informative, engaging and like stepping into a time capsule. I only wish someone would copy Adler and write a 2019 version now that the news cycle and technology is even faster.

[Ashley Southall · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's incredible the effort and thoughtfulness that goes into churning out this paper and incredible how much has changed (or not) since this book was published. There's plenty of great detail and candor, and the hour-by-hour chapters make for perfect organization. A fantastic read all around.

[Henry Sturcke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable behind-the-scenes look at how a great daily newspaper is produced.