Long considered an example
to other print publications

Following the examples of Facebook, AIM, the iPhone and still others, The New York Times is preparing to release an API.

The API will enable outside developers to manipulate content on NYTimes.com, including reviews, recipes and event listings.

The API's goal is to "make the NYT programmable," said interactive news editor Aron Pilhofer. "Everything we produce should be organized data."

A limited API is expected to go out this summer. It will build in functionality over the following six months.

In an interview with MediaBistro, New York Times CTO Marc Frons expressed some uncertainty about the depth of the project. "The plan is definitely to open [the code] up. How far, we don't know."

Early this month, Reuters launched its Spotlight API, which enables users to pull Reuters content and use it for RSS feeds, XML or RDF.

Spotlight followed the launch of Reuters' OpenCalais API, a tool that lets users incorporate semantic functionality in a blog, CMS, site or application.