The New York Times Co. is the No. 1 newspaper company in the world, but it has much to learn about PR.
Take today's communiqué from its PR unit.
The company issued a press release with the heady headline "New York Times Announces New Strategy for Growth." Yay! Time to fight back.
After reading the head, a person would logically assume that something really big is in the works. After all, the Times Co. suffered a dismal first-quarter where net income plummeted 93.1 percent to a measly $2.9M on a two percent dip in revenues to $466M. Drastic measures are called for. 
Did the Times have a white knight waiting in the wings? (Billionaire NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg will soon be a free agent.) Did the Times plan to go private in an effort to escape the pressure of Wall Street? Is the paper going paperless?
No, no and no.
The grand plan of CEO Mark Thompson is more of the same. Said the new CEO:
"We mean to grow our business by launching new products and services based on the unique strengths of Times journalism and by investing in the rapid expansion of existing operations – video and live events are examples – where we’re already seeing strong growth. We want to deepen our relationship with our existing loyal customers, but we also want to use a wider family of New York Times products to reach new customers both here and around the world."
Neither names nor descriptions of the new offerings were provided.
Mimicking other papers such as the San Francisco Chronicle, The Times promises cut-rate access to its site and an "enhanced tier," which is "all digital access" and full-family access.
The Times, which already had announced he rebranding of the International Herald Tribune to International New York Times, reminded readers of the release that it plans a big push overseas. As for videos, expect more of them.
The Times did disclose a nugget: games are part of its future.
A lack of specifics and regurgitation of boilerplate is the problem with the Times' release. The headline oversold the body copy by a factor of ten. It bolstered anticipation among Times fans and then cruelly let them down.
David Bryne of Talking Heads band fame, wrote in his "Psycho Killer" classic, "When I got nothing to say, my lips are sealed."
That's good advice for the Times' PR department.
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
Have a comment? Send it to 
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.