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.