Exhibit 12 THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES (dollars in thousands, except ratio) (unaudited) THREE MONTHS ENDED NINE MONTHS ENDED SEPTEMBER 27, SEPTEMBER 28, SEPTEMBER 27, SEPTEMBER 28, 1998 1997 1998 1997 ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE FIXED CHARGES Income before income taxes, income from joint ventures and an extrordinary item (A) $ 91,084 $ 79,636 $ 344,560 $ 288,533 Less net gain of dispositions of assets - - (12,619) - Distributed earnings from less-than-fifty-percent-owned affiliates 4,480 4,013 11,336 9,774 --------- --------- --------- --------- Adjusted pretax earnings from continuing operations 95,564 83,649 343,277 298,307 Fixed charges less capitalized interest 13,515 15,270 41,166 41,756 --------- --------- --------- --------- EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE FIXED CHARGES $ 109,079 $ 98,919 $ 384,443 $ 340,063 ========= ========= ========= ========= FIXED CHARGES Interest expense, net of capitalized interest $ 11,164 $ 12,639 $ 34,114 $ 33,864 Capitalized interest 243 260 173 5,293 Portion of rentals representative of interest factor 2,351 2,631 7,052 7,892 --------- --------- --------- --------- TOTAL FIXED CHARGES $ 13,758 $ 15,530 $ 41,339 $ 47,049 ========= ========= ========= ========= RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES 7.93 6.37 9.30 7.23 ========= ========= ========= ========= (A) 1998 excludes a $13.7 million pretax extraordinary item in April resulting from the early extinguishment of certain long term debt.