The New York Times building. Photo: Jessica Moon

May 2006—The motto of the New York Times is "All the news that's fit to print," and I had the opportunity to learn how the editors decide what news actually "fits" in print on the front page each day!

I was able to visit the Times office during my school vacation because my teacher's sister, Suzanne Spector, is the Deputy Education Editor of the paper.

Ms. Spector showed me many interesting things that day. She took me to see Pulitzer Hall, where all of the Pulitzer prizes that were won by Times reporters, editors, and photographers are hung. The hallway was like a walk through the world's history. There were articles and pictures from World War I to 9/11 through today!

The most interesting thing I did that day was attend the "Page One" meeting, in which the editors discuss what articles should be on the front page of the paper the next day. The meeting was led by Bill Keller, the Executive Editor. I was even introduced at the beginning of the meeting as a reporter for Scholastic News!

The editors talked about many topics: the bombing in Tel Aviv, Donald Rumsfeld, the black-footed ferret, and even Pedro Martinez' pitching record! I think all the editors wanted their stories on the front page, but they had to agree on which was most important.

I couldn't wait until the next morning! When I got up, I ran outside to get the paper and was so happy to see what news "fit" on the front page, and to understand how it got there!