Did you know? The New York Times now markets a global branding tool with a branded 12-page English-language news supplement in 35 foreign-language newspapers. Globalization from the Gray lady!

Most readers of the daily print edition of the New York Times in North America — or its daily online edition, too — do not know
that the Times markets an exclusive 12-page English-language news supplement that is inserted once a week in 35 foreign language newspapers
around the world, from Le Figaro in France to the China Daily in Beijing. Here in Taiwan, the Chinese-language national daily UNITED DAILY NEWS offers readers the weekly insert every Tuesday, and most of the Taiwanese readers use the supplement for two purposes:
as an English learning tool, to brush up on their English as a second language and to see and read real verbatim news stories from New York Times by-lined reporters in a 12-page package on newsprint,
that resembles a real New York Times newspaper, complete with banner logo on the front page and with all news stories
in the insert using the same typeface and font of the print edition of the New York Times back home.

American expats living overseas, like me, use the weekly insert, called the NEW YORK TIMES WEEKLY, as a kind of
nostalgic way of seeing the “real” New York Times once a week, even in an abbreviated form. But it is almost the real thing. I love it!
I buy the United Daily News every Tuesday just to get the New York Times Weekly, and “feel” the feel of the real New York Times again,
a paper I grew up with in western Massachusetts and in Boston during my college years.

Here’s some background information on this little piece of international media real estate: The New York Times International Weekly is an 8 to 12 page supplement that represents the best writing, photography and graphics of The New
York Times, including pages devoted to business, science, arts and
international news. It offers readers a comprehensive view of the
world from an American perspective. It is printed to look like the real New York Times and all the stories chosen to appear in
each week’s edition are from real New York Times reporters all over the world, some overseas and some in Manhattan and California.
Every story is a genuine New York Times by-lined story presented visually in the same typeface and font as the daily New York Times.
And all photos and graphics are from the New York Times daily, too. So the entire package looks and feels exactly like an abbreviated
edition of the New York Times.

Newspapers in Japan also carry weekly supplements from the Washington Post and the Independent in London, as a treat
for readers of the Yomiuri Shimbun or the Asahi newspaper. So the Times is not the only newspaper doing this kind of
overseas “presentation” in abbreviated form, but it stands out as one of the best.

Designed to complement the daily reportage of the foreign language newspaper it is inserted in, as a freebie for readers,
the International Weekly is distributed as a stand-alone section
within 38 newspapers in 32 countries across the U.S., Europe, Latin
America and Asia, reaching more than 6 million readers each week. The
supplement uses the same format and typography as The New York Times,
while providing host publications with a co-branding opportunity on
the front page.

The insert appears in the following regions and newspapers of the world:

Europe:

Le Figaro, France
Suddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
La Repubblica, Italy
El Pais, Spain
The Observer, England
Tages-Anzeiger, Switzerland
Delo, Slovenia
Der Standard, Austria
Poslovni Dnevnik-Zabreg, Croatia
Sabah, Turkey

 

Latin America and the Caribbean:

Clarin, Argentina
La Razon, Bolivia
Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil
Journal O Povo, Brazil
La Segunda, Chile
El Espectador, Colombia
Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
Prensa Libre, Guatemala
El Norte, Mexico
Mural, Mexico
Reforma, Mexico
El Nuevo Diario, Nicaragua
La Prensa, Panama
El Observador, Uruguay
El Diario de Yucatan, Mexico
El Diario de Yucatan, Los Cabos/Cancun, Mexico
Bon Dia, Aruba
Aruba Today, Aruba
Bahamas Tribune, The Bahamas

Asia:

Asian Age, India
Asahi Shimbun, Japan
The state-run Communist Party-controlled China Daily, Communist China
Manila Bulletin, Philippines
Today, Singapore
United Daily News, Taiwan (a free an independent nation separate from communist China)

United States and Canada:

Korea Times, Los Angeles
Toronto Star, Canada
Hamilton Spectator, Canada

What’s in it for advertisers? I am not sure, since the insert I see every week in Taiwan carries
no advertising. Not one display ad or classified ad here. But perhaps other editions in other
nations carry ads. But perhaps the host newspapers feel that by co-branding their brand with the prestigious NYT brand, they
can offer their readers a bit of extra sizzle and prestige. It’s true, The New York Times International Weekly offers an
unmatched editorial environment – one of the most influential in the
world– and the section attracts an affluent, educated and sophisticated
audience, making the section a perfect showcase for products and
services, but I have never seen an advertisement yet in any of the inserts here in Taiwan.

 

In each weekly edition, there are 12 to 15 real news stories culled from recent editions of the New York Times back in
Manhattan, complete with bylines and Times headline style. In addition, each week there are two columns
written especially for the Weekly, one titled “Lens” and another titled “Intelligence” — and both are set up like oped style
commentary. Roger Cohen, a regular Times columnist, often writes a special column for the ”Intelligence” feature.

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