The creative writers of The New York Times

Or how to write headlines like The New York Times.

As any writer will tell you, writing headlines is not an easy task. A good headline typically conveys the essence of the article. To increase the chances of readers actually reading an article, it is important to grab their attention with an appealing headline that retains fidelity to the content.

Now, of course, internet publications over that last decade or so have taken the appealing part to the extreme and resorted to downright silliness. Sample these: “Grimes Just Gave Her And Elon Musk’s Baby A Haircut, And The Result Is Very…Interesting”; In Champions League Final Vinicius Broke This 20-Year-Old Record…”; “30 Things That’ll Practically Keep Your Home Clean For You. Number 15 Will Shock You.” The headlines that follow this structure are so ridiculous that their genre has been assigned a name: clickbait.

Clickbait headlines are a staple of tabloids and non-serious publications. The venerable New York Times is above them.

The New York Times is the paper of record. It sets the agenda for national (and sometimes international) discourse. It is the paper with the most subscribers of all American newspapers, touching 9 million. It is the paper that addresses all men and women it writes about with the appropriate Mr./Mrs. prefix before their names. The New York Times is old school that way, but it only adds to its charm and gravitas. It is the paper that most, if not all, fresh journalism graduates, especially the ones eager to speak truth to power, aspire to join. Imagine the power of a paper that initiates and changes conversation; which journalist wouldn’t want to work for it? Some of the greatest American journalists have walked it hallowed halls and sat in its editorial meetings over the course of its storied history. Those journalists have left their lasting imprint on this great American institution, and have had The New York Times leave its lasting imprint on them.

Keeping up with this neatly-cultivated brand for over 170 years, the New York Times doesn’t just take its reporting but also its headlines to a whole new level.

It adds gravitas to its headers. It adds the whole weight of veteran journalists of its past and present. It adds the exuberance of the interns who intern there. There is art in its headers. There is literature in them. The Grey Lady’s editors make full use of all the nuances, the niceties, the complexities, and the simplicities of the English language while crafting its immaculate headlines. The editors at the newspaper make all efforts within human capacity to sum up the articles in their headlines.

Which is why even when Israel dropped two-thousand-pound dumb bombs on the ramshackle tents of the internally displaced people in Rafah on May 26, the New York Times stuck to its carefully-crafted seriousness. It didn’t give in to the temptation to write descriptive headlines like some of its more uncouth contemporaries did when they wrote headlines such as these:

• Israeli attack on Rafah tent camp kills 45, prompts international outcry [Reuters]

• Global shock after Israeli airstrike kills dozens in Rafah tent camp [The Guardian]

• Israeli strikes kill at least 37 Palestinians, most in tents, near Gaza’s Rafah as offensive expands [Time]

• ‘No one is left’: Palestinians describe deadly tent camp strike as Israel pushes deeper into Rafah despite global outrage [CNBC]

• 21 people killed in new Rafah strike, say Gaza officials [Washington Post]

No, not the New York Times. No. Never. Where’s the sobriety, the seriousness, and dare I say, the newsworthiness in describing events as they happened? Perhaps it is this obdurate quality that has helped the venerable newspaper to last as long as it has while still maintaining the aura that comes with being regarded as the paper of record.

The New York Times drew upon its rich history, maintaining its dignity, seriousness, and sobriety even when reporting on the horrific genocidal murder of dozens of women and children seeking refuge in makeshift tents after being repeatedly displaced from their homes in the besieged Gaza enclave to craft the remarkably simple headline:

Gazans Look Through Ashes After Israeli Strike On Rafah

Some would argue that the quality of reporting, and especially headline writing, at The New York Times has transcended journalism and approximates literature, specifically fiction. They would be correct.

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