The New York Times Is Ready to Give You More Opinions

Alexander Abad-Santos
The New York Times Is Ready to Give You More Opinions

Get ready for a little more Andy Rosenthal in your life. Despite last week's ominous-sounding buyouts and in anticipation of Thursday's announcement of third-quarter earnings, the New York Times has announced that it's expanding its Opinion Pages online according to a company press release, which will include a lot more from the page's editor. "The Opinion Pages are a cornerstone of our offerings to readers," said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the Times's publisher. "We continue to invest in expanding content that better serves our readers, in the U.S. and around the world."  What is the Times's bigger, buffer online editorial page promising? 

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  • Andy Rosenthal, The Times's editorial page editor, will blog:  "Andrew Rosenthal will scan and respond to the world of opinion at The Times and elsewhere," says the release.  

  •  More science, nature, and health: Ezekiel Emanuel, a bio-ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, will cover health care policy; and Diane Ackerman, an author and naturalist, who will cover science and nature, have been added to the online lineup. 

  • Opinions on ... geography: Border Lines, a new blog, "will examine the contemporary political world map through examples of quirks in national borders, which illuminate enclaves, exclaves, no-man’s-lands, undefined borders, etc."  

  • Sticking to their forté: "Campaign Stops" will be "a political opinion blog that will chronicle the 2012 election cycle" featuring regular contributions from Times columnists Egan, Blow, and Douthat.

  • Opinions on ... video: "Op-Docs" is being touted as The Times's (requisite?) video channel. Complete with "opinionated, short-video documentaries, with wide creative ranges, about current affairs and contemporary life from both renowned and emerging filmmakers."

  • "Trusted Commenters": A new commenting system "available to a select group of readers with a history of high-quality comments" that will allow users to post comments without being moderated first.  

There's no set date for the arrival of all the new things (The Times is hosting events through the end of the year promoting the expansion). But an expanded Opinion Page may mean you have to be a little more frugal with your clicks: all of these features, the release says, will be covered under current subscriber plans.