Here's what New York Times publisher AG Sulzberger said at last night's 175th anniversary celebration in NYC: "Thank you all for being here to celebrate the old gray lady’s big birthday. May we all look so vibrant and energetic at 175. If there is one lesson from the 175-year history of The Times, and the 250-year history of The United States, it is this: A free people need a free press. The nation's founders knew this. It's why, for all their complaints about journalists – and they had many – they recognized the press as essential to the success of the nation. As America’s paper of record, The Times’s job is to go to the scene, to ask the right question, to expose the cover-up, to chronicle history as it unfolds. We were there to cover Lincoln's assassination. We were there to document the search for the north and south poles. We were there to chronicle the creation and detonation of the atomic bomb. We were there amid the rubble of two fallen towers in our hometown 25 years ago, when my colleagues raced toward the smoke – and kept reporting over two decades of war that followed. Today, we are in Ukraine, and Sudan, and Gaza, and Myanmar – and in every state in the nation and 150 other countries around the world – telling the story of these places, their people, this moment. Why does this work matter? Because our democracy depends on an informed public. Because our diverse – sometimes divided – country must understand itself to meet its challenges. Because the strength of our economy and the security of our nation require transparency and accountability. Information, understanding, accountability: these are the things a free and independent press provides. This room is full of journalists who go to astonishing lengths to ensure the American public gets all of this – gets all the news that’s fit to print – as fully and fairly as humanly possible. People in this room have been shot at and kidnapped, surveilled and harassed, dragged into courtrooms and expelled from nations. Their response is always the same: keep reporting. Many members of my family are here tonight, and we feel deeply privileged to have been able to serve this institution and its journalistic mission for the last 130 years. So on their behalf let me say a few words of thanks. To all the reporters, columnists, photographers and editors in this room – thank you. You are the heart and soul of the place and it’s hard to overstate my admiration for your work. To our business leaders. Thank you for all you’ve done to defy gravity – and the collapse of our industry – to ensure this essential work continues. And to all of you who have supported The Times in some way – through a partnership, an ad buy, or even just a well-loved subscription. Thank you, we couldn’t do this work without you. I’d like to leave you with a simple message: The free press needs allies. A confluence of pressures – eroding business models, intellectual property theft by AI companies, worsening attacks on press freedom – has left the press badly diminished, and more vulnerable than at any point in the nation’s 250 years. The press is not perfect. And The Times is not perfect. The first draft of history is by its very nature imperfect. But this labor of learning and sharing is animated by the idealistic belief that the public – all of you – deserves to know the full story as best as we can report it out. That’s what The Times is here to do, without fear or favor. We’re grateful for your support. And we’re grateful when you extend that support to other news organizations doing original, independent reporting. So, on this happy confluence of birthdays – America and its paper of record – let’s end with a toast: A toast to the nation, to its free press, and to the next 175 years."