Bonjour to the International New York Times, a European grey lady

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/oct/16/new-york-times-paris

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The International New York Times arrived on Europe's newsstands yesterday in place of the International Herald Tribune. And, despite a slight layout change, it was very much like the IHT itself.

There was a letter to readers on the front by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr, the paper's publisher, in which he spelled out the reason for the title change:

"Only a few decades ago, the New York Times was a well respected but metropolitan newspaper. My father, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, had the vision to make the Times a national newspaper in 1980. Though seen as a gamble at the time, it was clearly the right decision. Today, our future is global."

That, of course, is the point of the exercise. The New York Times is eager to leap aboard the digital revolution in order to become an international news brand.

As I leafed through the 22 pages of the main section, I couldn't help recalling the New York Times's long-held nickname, the Grey (or Gray) Lady.

It is said to have earned that soubriquet when it eschewed pictures in favour of copy, lots of copy (though there are other interpretations - see here).

There are plenty of pictures in the new International New York Times but it still looks, especially from a British press perspective, very grey indeed.

And too many of the articles remain wedded to what we Brits would regard as dropped intros.

On the other hand, ex-pat Americans will probably find the INYT (will that acronym catch on?) familiar enough to be readable.

I certainly enjoyed Roger Cohen's piece, "Adieu IHT, bonjour INYT", in which he recounted the Trib's hallowed past as the favoured paper of Ernest Hemingway.

"An American in Paris: Four words that conjure a milieu, now long gone," writes Cohen, and concludes:

"Will the romance be the same? Up to a point, Lord Copper. These are digital times: Hemingway flops at 140 characters or less.

No matter, it is time to move on under a new name in the sophisticated spirit of the Trib: A voice for America in the world at a time of American retrenchment — a reference, a refuge and a bridge."

My altogether less romantic, dry-eyed, view of the New York Times's decision to change the paper's title can be found later today in my column in the London Evening Standard.

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