By: Nathan Chen

The New York Times, one of the country’s most respected newspapers, has now, on August 10th, launched a new digital offering focused on enterprise journalism and deep reporting. The new section, named “The Big Story,” will feature a blend of long-form articles, daily news updates, and interactives that take readers behind the headlines.

“The Big Story” is part of a shift towards sustained investigative work that the Times feels is lacking in other digital newsrooms. The Times sees a role for itself in publishing articles with a higher bar, that require more investment and effort than standard daily reporting. The idea is to create content that will be remembered and used by scholars and researchers long after it appears on the front page.

Dean Baquet, the New York Times executive editor, said that the new section will be “like mini-books,” adding that “we are putting more and more of our resources into stories that will last.”

The section will launch with two articles. The first is an analysis of the economic impact of the U.S. Pacific pivot strategy, focusing on the long-term costs to the U.S. taxpayer. This article will be followed by a feature story on the impact of species loss on the planet, a subject that the Times has been reporting on for decades.

The section will be free to readers at launch, with hopes of eventually moving to a paywall system similar to the one already in place on the Times’ website. This is in a separate from. With a focus on quality over quantity, The New York Times is betting that readers will be willing to pay for a deeper, richer reading experience.

The Times’ journalists have been working hard to create content for “The Big Story” for the past year, and the result is “a formidable team of journalists and editors working on deeply reported stories,” Baquet said.

The New York Times is hoping that this new section will help the newspaper reach new heights in the digital era, giving readers high-quality content that they can’t find anywhere else. With an ever-changing news landscape, “The Big Story” is a bold move by the Times, betting that readers’ interest in serious, well-researched journalism is as high as ever.