First edition of the new international edition called The New York Times
What a surprise to find my edition of the International New York Times simply called The New York Times
The evolution of an international edition
http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/10/goodbye-international-new-york-times-hello-international-edition-of-the-new-york-times/
What a surprise to reach out for my copy of the International New York Times, only to find it is now called just The New York Times. I had no idea this was happening, so, this morning in Amsterdam I did a double take to make sure I was in the right place.
It's all part of a strategy, and now The New York Times got a bit step closer to becoming the ultimate global newspaper in the English language.
The name may be new for the foreign editions of the Times, but the content continues to be the same and that is, ultimately, what matters to readers, many of whom, like me, are faithful to the brand.
I am old enough to remember the various lives and names of a newspaper that I have sometimes lined up to get at the hotel lobby (that was a long time ago, before the Internet), or that I would give the concierge a tip to guarantee that I would have it delivered to my room door.
When I started traveling to Europe, this edition was called the New York Herald Tribune, then it was International Herald Tribune, under joint ownership of both the Times and The Washington Post. Then until three years ago, it was the International New York Times. Regardless of the name, it was the newspaper that we Americans looked for when traveling abroad.
This is how the Times introduced the new product:
“The New York Times Company today introduced The New York Times International Edition, a redesigned, improved and more relevant print newspaper and refreshed digital web experience for our audience outside of the United States.”
I hope this is a successful move for the Times. It reminds me that El Pais, the Madrid-based newspaper, and, in my view, the authoritative global Spanish-language daily (one that I always read on line), has shown similar ambitions. Both The New York Times and El Pais must compete with broadcast outlets, such as CNN in English and TVe in Spanish, which provide a lot of the same information for free. The difference, however, is that both the Times and El Pais continue to provide high quality lean back journalism, especially in their weekend editions, not found elsewhere. It is those pieces in opinion, culture, fashion and the arts, written by some of the best writers around, that keep me, and many others, coming to the Times and El Pais.
Read more about it here