# New York Times Sections **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375 "2005-09-13T01:58:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![inkubo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@inkubo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkubo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/1 "2005-09-13T01:58:49Z")
How come the New York Times doesn’t have a comic section? ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/2 "2005-09-13T02:29:27Z")
It’s too cool for comics. A refined paper, such as _The Times_ doesn’t have enough room to run a comics section. There’s too much related to culture that it has to cover. Comics and such are better left to rags like _The Post_ or _Daily News_. (Disclaimer: I don’t touch either, so I have no idea whether they actually have comic sections or not.) Seriously, _The Times_ didn’t have a sports section at one time. I figure the reasoning is something like comics aren’t news? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/3 "2005-09-13T12:32:38Z")
The Times had a sport section back in the 1920s, and if it didn’t have one at all, it was back when no paper had a sports section. The main reason the Times doesn’t have a comic section today is because it sets them apart. For whatever reason the decision was made originally, they stick to it so they can be the only paper without one. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/4 "2005-09-13T12:35:52Z")
The New York Times did not run comics at first for a very good reason: it was in competition with several other dailies which between them had all the popular comics of the day. They “made a virtue out of necessity” thereafter, and when other papers closed down, they decided that running comics was not appropriate to the Times image. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/5 "2005-09-13T15:19:10Z")
In contrast, the _Washington Post_, which is the _Times’_ main rival as the “newspaper of record” for the United States, has a very extensive comics section. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/6 "2005-09-13T15:20:50Z")
I would like to see the Wall Street Journal add sports & comics. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/7 "2005-09-13T21:43:46Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I would like to see the Wall Street Journal add sports & comics. The _Wall Street Journal d_oesn’t have sports scores, but they have frequent articles relating to sports. I imagine the \*Saturday Journal \*will have even more sports and pop culture related stories ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/8 "2005-09-13T22:44:33Z")
Hey, I thought the Op Ed page in the NY Times WAS the comics! Sorry, I couldn’t help it… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/9 "2005-09-14T00:33:29Z")
Op-Ed on Sunday has political cartoons, and I heard that they’ll be serializing a ‘graphic novel’ in, I think, the magazine section. They might not have comics, but that’s _wicked_ crossword puzzle. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/10 "2005-09-15T12:14:22Z")
> [@Dignan](#): > > Seriously, _The Times_ didn’t have a sports section at one time. They may not have had a sports “section”, but they have always covered sports. This is despite the fact that the paper itself predates the widespread existence of spectator sports. For example, the first baseball box score appears in the Times on September 15, 1866 – almost ten years before the formation of the National League. There are also accounts of boxing matches and horse races in editions from 1851, the first year of the paper’s existence. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-sections/321375/11 "2005-09-15T12:37:59Z")
I believe the NYT recently announced that they will have a new section soon featuring graphic art. Not comics like Garfield, more in the vein of Maus.