Repository: yt-dlp/yt-dlp
File: yt_dlp/extractor/nytimes.py (Python)

Code before:
        'only_matching': True,
    }]

    def _extract_content_from_block(self, block):
        details = traverse_obj(block, {
            'id': ('sourceId', {str}),
            'uploader': ('bylines', ..., 'renderedRepresentation', {str}),
            'duration': (('duration', 'length', ...), {int_or_none}),
            'upload_date': ('firstPublished', {unified_strdate}),
            'timestamp': ('firstPublished', {parse_iso8601}),
            'series': ('podcastSeries', {str})}, get_all=False)

        media = traverse_obj(block, ('renditions', ...))
        formats, subtitles = self._extract_media_from_json(details.get('id'), media)

        # audio articles will have an url and no formats
        url = traverse_obj(block, ('fileUrl'), get_all=False)
        if not formats and url:
            formats.append({'url': url, 'ext': determine_ext(url)})

        return merge_dicts(
            details,
            {
                'formats': formats,
                'subtitles': subtitles
            })

    def _extract_thumbnails(self, thumbs):
        thumbnails = []
        for image in thumbs:
            image_url = image.get('url')
            if not image_url:
                continue
            thumbnails.append({
                'url': image_url,
                'width': int_or_none(image.get('width')),
                'height': int_or_none(image.get('height')),
            })
        return thumbnails

    def _real_extract(self, url):
        page_id = self._match_id(url)
        webpage = self._download_webpage(url, page_id)
        article_json = self._search_json(
            r'window\.__preloadedData\s*=', webpage, 'media details', page_id,
            transform_source=lambda x: x.replace('undefined', 'null'))['initialData']['data']['article']
        blocks_json = traverse_obj(
            article_json, ('sprinkledBody', 'content', ..., ('ledeMedia', None), lambda _, v: v['__typename'] in ('Video', 'Audio')))

        art_title = remove_end(self._html_extract_title(webpage), ' - The New York Times')
        art_description = traverse_obj(

Review comment (suggestion):
`merge_dicts` is particularly useful when you're merging 2 dicts that may share the same keys, but the values of the shared keys may be `None` in one dict -- it will prioritize the values that are not `None`. Here we can just unpack IMO
```suggestion
        return {
                **details,
                'formats': formats,
                'subtitles': subtitles
            })
```

Code after:
        return self._extract_video(video_id)


class NYTimesArticleIE(NYTimesBaseIE):
    _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?nytimes\.com/\d{4}/\d{2}/\d{2}/(?!books|podcasts)[^/?#]+/(?:\w+/)?(?P<id>[^./?#]+)(?:\.html)?'
    _TESTS = [{
        'url': 'http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/business/owner-of-gravity-payments-a-credit-card-processor-is-setting-a-new-minimum-wage-70000-a-year.html?_r=0',
        'md5': '3eb5ddb1d6f86254fe4f233826778737',
        'info_dict': {
            'id': '100000003628438',
            'ext': 'mp4',
            'title': 'One Company’s New Minimum Wage: $70,000 a Year',
            'description': 'md5:89ba9ab67ca767bb92bf823d1f138433',
            'timestamp': 1429047468,
            'upload_date': '20150414',
            'uploader': 'Matthew Williams',
            'creator': 'Patricia Cohen',
            'thumbnail': r're:https?://\w+\.nyt.com/images/.*\.jpg',
            'duration': 119.0,
        },
    }, {
        # article with audio and no video
        'url': 'https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/29/health/mosquitoes-genetic-engineering.html',
        'md5': '2365b3555c8aa7f4dd34ca735ad02e6a',
        'info_dict': {
            'id': '100000009110381',
            'ext': 'mp3',
            'title': 'The Gamble: Can Genetically Modified Mosquitoes End Disease?',
            'description': 'md5:9ff8b47acbaf7f3ca8c732f5c815be2e',
            'timestamp': 1695960700,
            'upload_date': '20230929',
            'creator': 'Stephanie Nolen, Natalija Gormalova',
            'thumbnail': r're:https?://\w+\.nyt.com/images/.*\.jpg',
            'duration': 1322,
        },
    }, {
        'url': 'https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/business/dealbook/kamala-harris-biden-voters.html',
        'md5': '3eb5ddb1d6f86254fe4f233826778737',
        'info_dict': {
            'id': '100000009202270',
            'ext': 'mp4',
            'title': 'Kamala Harris Defends Biden Policies, but Says ‘More Work’ Needed to Reach Voters',
            'description': 'md5:de4212a7e19bb89e4fb14210ca915f1f',
            'timestamp': 1701290997,
            'upload_date': '20231129',
            'uploader': 'By The New York Times',
            'creator': 'Katie Rogers',
            'thumbnail': r're:https?://\w+\.nyt.com/images/.*\.jpg',
            'duration': 97.631,
        },
        'params': {