Talking at the 58th annual World Newspaper Congress, Chairman of the New York Times Company Arthur O. Sulzberger said that consumers have an overwhelming choice of media options. How can newspapers make themselves indispensable in the media mix? "I am convinced that our newspapers' ultimate value proposition is our credibility," said Mr Sulzberger, who conceded that The Times has had its share of credibility-shaking scandals. His presentation focused on the steps the newspaper has taken to repair the damage. Among others, the steps include:

- Creating a new position of "standards editor."

- Utilizing the Web to provide readers with complete documents used in stories as well as transcripts of interviews.

- Further curtailing the use of anonymous sources.

"While these reforms are not an all-encompassing panacea, they are an effort to confront aggressively many of the problems that are bedeviling our newspapers and, quite frankly, our industry," he said. "We think that our publics, as Bill Keller, The Times¹ executive editor, calls them, will respond favorably to this multi-prong program because they will see it as an attempt to upgrade our standards while creating a more responsive culture," said Mr Sulzberger.