Stories about the media in the media always make interesting reading, especially if it happens to be about one of your favourite media sources. Ever since I started buying the New York Times regularly during my Columbia Days, I have enjoyed reading the paper. I also subscribed some time ago to the International Herald Tribune (now owned entirely by NYT). The website is a must-read daily. I read recently (I think it was the WSJ) about the NYT planning half-screen-sized ads on their website like what we are used to seeing in magazines.
This WSJ story has more:
For years, the Times was one of the most staid companies in a staid industry. But since Mr. Sulzberger took over in 1997, the Times has learned to throw its weight around. To push its brand overseas, it leaned on an unwilling Washington Post Co. to part with its stake in the International Herald Tribune, a Paris-based paper they had published jointly for more than 30 years. The Times took a tough line with book publisher Random House Inc. and online news service TheStreet.com Inc. to extricate itself from unfavorable relationships. And the Times has thrown sharp elbows in promoting its paper at colleges, irking rival Gannett Co.
Rather than following the traditional newspaper-industry route of protecting its flagship paper from economic swings by acquiring other businesses, Mr. Sulzberger is deploying his company’s brand name more than ever before by means of cable television, book publishing, national newspapering — and now international print journalism. Times executives say they’re trying to make their once-neglected business side the equal of the company’s respected newsroom.
