London, April 29:

A battle is being waged for the soul of America’s most respected paper as rebel investors try to oust its senior executives.

These are difficult days for the New York Times, the paper that enjoys anenviable reputation for journalistic excellence, but finds itself fighting a never-ending battle with rebel shareholders who want to oust its senior executives.

Last week, veteran journalist John Burns flew back from Iraq, where he runs the New York Times’s Baghdad bureau, to deliver an impassioned speech to investors at the invitation of the title’s publisher, Arthur’Pinch’ Sulzberger.

Burns addressed several fund managers at a private gathering, shortly before the paper’s parent company, The New York Times Co, held its stormy annual general meeting in Manhattan.

The AGM was the scene of another shareholder rebellion, with investors voting against the re-election of the company’s directors, including Sulzberger, who also chairs the New York Times Co.

Nearly 42 per cent refused to vote for the proposition, hijacking a ballot that was once a formality but has now become an annual opportunity for investors to express displeasure at the way the company is run.

Burns’s speech was designed to convince the rebels that their concerns are misplaced.

With a distinguished career behind him, including a Pulitzer prize, few are better placed to speak about journalism than Burns.

The theme of his address, say sources at the paper, was the importance of investing heavily in editorial, even though profits at the group are falling and circulation of its flagship paper has stagnated.

Despite a nationwide sales drive, circulation has risen by only 20,000 in nine years. Other papers have seen their sales fall, but advertising at the paper has collapsed, and its commercial future looks cloudy.