Conspiracy Theory: Is The NYT Padding Bylines to Game the Pulitzers?

Via his Substack, the writer Daniel Stone does the occasional deep dive into very particular media trends, which he investigates with extensive number-crunching, footnotes, and charts. He has previously looked into the financial trajectory of neocon rag Commentary (plunging); the delivery times and lengths of Matt Levine’s Bloomberg newsletter “Money Stuff” (growing longer and later); and how frequently the New York Review of Books’ book reviews are reviewing the books of other New York Review of Books contributors (very often).

Earlier this week, Stone sent out an edition about the length of byline credits at The New York Times. He had noticed that stories appeared to have an increasing number of authors. The data seemed to bear that out:

Looking at thirty years of the Times index I found that today about 18% of all New York Times news articles (and 20% of those appearing in print) are multi-bylined—hardly “every” article, but still a decent chunk.2 But it is very much a new thing. The proportion of multi-bylined articles has sharply increased in recent years, doubling since 2016, quadrupling since 2009, and octupling since 2001.

It was a timely moment to make this observation. Just a day earlier, 106th Pulitzer Prizes were announced, and the Times did very well. Eight of the Gray Lady’s entries won or were named finalists, to which we say: Good for them. The reporters worked hard and deserve the credit.

But which reporters, exactly? Salamishah Tillet won for criticism. “Anonymous freelancer” was a finalist in breaking news photography. But the other six awards went to “Staff of the New York Times” (except for one, credited to just “the New York Times”). Take a look:

• Winner in National Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Winner in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Breaking News Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Public Service: the New York Times

In certain respects, this is not extraordinary. Many outlets submit Pulitzer nominations for the entire publication, as award-winning works often require contributions from myriad reporters, editors, artists, and assistants who replace printer toner. It would be impractical to list them all on the Pulitzer certificate. But with Stone’s data in mind, let’s indulge in some baseless conspiratorial thinking: Is the New York Times padding their bylines, and thus their Pulitzer submissions, to game the Pulitzers, so that they can spread the Pulitzer glory not simply to one or two great writers, but to, implicitly, the entirety of their several-thousand-person staff?

I won’t pretend to have an answer here. But consider the fact that, per the Pulitzers’ submission guidelines, an entry may include up to five named individuals — the “strongest contributors to the work.” If projects have more than five journalists who have made “substantial contributions,” they must be submitted as staff entries. So if the Times’ proportion of multi-author bylines have increased, as Stone found, it would likely be reflected in their Pulitzer submissions.

And it is notable that the Times’ abundance of staff-centric Pulitzer contenders is a relatively new phenomenon. In 2021, for example, the paper placed in five categories. Two were for individuals — Wesley Morris, who won in criticism, and Emilio Morenatti, who was a finalist in feature photography. Two went to “Staff of the New York Times;” the fifth went to “New York Times.” The year before that, in 2020, the Times again won or placed for three full-staff submissions, while another three went to individuals.

But going back into the 2010s, the ratio of full-staff contenders to individuals shrinks. In 2019, the paper placed in five categories; just one was full-staff. In 2018, it placed in 10 categories, just two were full staff. In 2017, it placed in four categories, just one was full staff. From 2012 to 2016, the Times won or was a finalist 33 times — five of those were full-staff, one was for “the Editorial Board of the New York Times.”

Here they are all laid out (full-staff submissions in bold).

2022:

• Winner in National Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Winner in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Winner in Criticism: Salamishah Tillet
• Finalist in Breaking News Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Public Service: the New York Times
• Finalist in Breaking News Photography: Anonymous freelancer

2021:

• Winner in Public Service: the New York Times
• Winner in Criticism: Wesley Morris
• Finalist in National Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Feature Photography: Emilio Morenatti

2020:

• Winner in Investigative Reporting: Brian M. Rosenthal
• Winner in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Winner in Commentary: Nikole Hannah-Jones
• Finalist in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Feature Writing: Ellen Barry
• Finalist in Public Service: the New York Times

2019:

• Winner in Explanatory Reporting: David Barstow, Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner
• Winner in Editorial Writing: Brent Staples
• Finalist in Investigative Reporting: David Barstow, Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner
• Finalist in National Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Criticism: Manohla Dargis

2018:

• Winner in Public Service: The New York Times, for Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (shared with Ronan Farrow at The New Yorker)
• Winner in National Reporting: Staff of the New York Times (shared with The Washington Post)
• Winner in Editorial Cartooning: Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan
• Finalist in Breaking News Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Explanatory Reporting: Michael Kimmelman
• Finalist in Feature Writing: Norimitsu Onishi
• Finalist in Criticism: Manohla Dargis
• Finalist in Editorial Writing: Kathleen Kingsbury, Jessica Ma, Matteen Mokalla, & Stuart Thompson
• Finalist in Breaking News Photography: Ivor Prickett
• Finalist in Feature Photography: Meredith Kohut

2017:

• Winner in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Winner in Feature Writing: C.J. Chivers
• Winner in Breaking News Photography: Daniel Berehulak
• Finalist in Local Reporting: Michael Schwirtz, Michael Winerip, Robert Gebeloff

2016:

• Winner in International Reporting: Alissa J. Rubin
• Winner in Breaking News Photography: Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks, Daniel Etter (shared with Reuters)
• Finalist in Investigative Reporting: Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Michael Corkery, Robert Gebeloff
• Finalist in Investigative Reporting: Michael Schwirtz, Michael Winerip (shared with The Marshall Project)
• Finalist in Local Reporting: Sarah Mislin Nir
• Finalist in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Feature Writing: N.R. Kleinfield
• Finalist in Commentary: Nicholas Kristof
• Finalist in Criticism: Manohla Dargis
• Finalist in Editorial Writing: The Editorial Board of the New York Times

2015:

• Winner in Investigative Reporting: Eric Lipton
• Winner in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Winner in Feature Photographer: Daniel Berehulak
• Finalist in National Reporting: Walt Bogdanich, Mike McIntire
• Finalist in Commentary: David Carr
• Finalist in Criticism: Manohla Dargis
• Finalist in Breaking News Photography: Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Uriel Sinai
• Finalist in Breaking News Photography: Tyler Hicks, Sergey Ponomarev, Wissam Nassar

2014:

• Winner in Breaking News Photography: Tyler Hicks
• Winner in Feature Photography: Josh Haner
• Finalist in Explanatory Reporting: Dennis Overbye

2013:

• Winner in Investigative Reporting: Daniel Barstow, Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab
• Winner in Explanatory Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Winner in International Reporting: David Barboza
• Winner in Feature Writing: John Branch
• Finalist in Criticism: Manohla Dargis
• Finalist in Breaking News Photography: Tyler Hicks

2012:

• Winner in Explanatory Reporting: David Kocieniewski
• Winner in International Reporting: Jeffrey Gettleman
• Finalist in International Reporting: Staff of the New York Times
• Finalist in Feature Writing: John Branch
• Finalist in Commentary: Nicholas Kristof
• Finalist in Public Service: The New York Times

Just some interesting information. In other news, congratulations to Manohla Dargis, five-time finalist in criticism. We know it’s going to happen for her.