Icon of Journalism

The New York Times logo is the iconic image of the journalism industry. It is internationally recognized and symbolized as "great journalism." Once you have been published in the times, you have made it as a journalist. The word "times" stands as a metonym for the publication and a status symbol in the industry.
For example:
Someone might say, "He works for the Times." Meaning, he works for The New York Times, not meaning a date or time. It surpasses other publications with the word "Times" in their nameplate.
The nameplate style has not changed since its original publication in 1851. Though the name from "New-York Daily Times," to "New-York Times," to the current "The New York Times" has changed, the font and style created has stayed consistent for over 150 years. Forever symbolizing great journalism with the recognizable logo.
Other industries may have a generic logo, such as "RX" for Pharmacy, but journalism is one of the few industries where a flagship corporation leads the standard for excellence in its respective field.

"The New York Times" nameplate was first used in December of 1896, and has stayed consistent since. 

Additional letters have been added to font since the introduction of the NYT Magazine and The International Herald Tribune, but the style stays the same.
The font has also been adapted to a single "T," for copyright purposes and for logo. This recognizable "T" proves that the font has been so ingrained into our minds that only a fraction of the title can be shown, and the public will immediately recognize the reference.

The "T" logo has been used for The New York Times Magazine since 2004.

It takes millions of views and hundreds of years for a symbol like the "T" of "The New York Times" to be as recognized as it is today, but it also shows how impressionable the public is toward design and advertising. The tropes that are associated with logos, designs and advertising are not always easily recognizable, but they are after inferred without us even knowing it.

If you pick up a publication with the nameplate of The New York Times you expect to get a quality product. This is also why many other news organizations have tried to mimic The New York Times' nameplate.

The Washington Post was founded in 1877 and has a similar nameplate as The New York Times.

This "old english" font has become recognizable as a newspaper heading since before The New York Times was a great newspaper. It is only in the recent decades that The New York Times has stood as the pillar of great journalism and recognized by the "T" logo.