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"Do you trust them to tell the truth about that?"

Yes, actually. The Times might be able to print whatever outlandish stuff they want on their pages, but when it comes to the business side they are a bit more accountable.

The circulation gains are verifiable because they are audited by an independent entity called the Audit Bureau of Circulations. There are some tricks that newspapers can do to cheat a little bit on these audits, but for the most part, I trust them.

The main reason for the NYT circulation gains is because they have been working hard at improving their distribution channels throughout the country, and the world for that matter. They now have home delivery in a lot of areas they didn't just a few years ago. So basically they are gaining among people who probably always wanted to read the Times, but weren't able to find a copy in the past. So it's a bit like a retail chain that opens a store in a new market- it pretty much goes without saying that they will increase sales, even if they decline a little bit in their original markets.

As for the revenues, they are a publicly traded company, so unless there is any Enron style funny business going on with the books, that's easy enough to check out as well. Keep in mind that 2001 was an absolutely horrible year for advertising across the board. They didn't have to work too hard to beat last year's numbers.

Politics aside, never lose sight of the fact that newspapers are a business, and an extremely profitable one at that. Profit margins for most chains are around 20%. They might talk like socialists on their editorial page, but they are enthusiastic capitalists in the way they conduct business. Once you get outside the newsroom all these organizations exist to make money and the New York Times Co. makes more than most of their peers.