Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The International Herald Tribune Is Gone, Off the Newsstands for Good

(Well, Not Really) Today, the International Herald Tribune is gone:
On Tuesday, The International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times, becomes The International New York Times. The paper has changed names a number of times since its founding 126 years ago, but its mission has always remained the same: to provide a global perspective on events and ideas shaping the world. This is a look at its journey so far.

What follows at the link is a retrospective of news and editorials, from the 1890s to the 2000s, but if you really want a good time, read Art Buchwald's 1956 report of the Monaco wedding between Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly. A couple of years earlier, the humorist had written Tax Deductions Made Easy
My take:
I've been a devoted reader of the International Herald Tribune since the tender age of 8.

(Okay, at that time I only read the comics page, but still…)

I had a number of letters to the editor in the paper since then, although only about boring international happenings and tedious issues of liberty and freedom (they never published my missives complaining every time they got rid of another comic strip — Buzz Sawyer, Beetle Bailey, Blondie, etc; I never understood why Dennis the Menace was less important than Dilbert).

Maybe soon the NYT will take the next logical step, and follow the NYT's example, getting rid of if its comics page altogether (no, seriously, folks, the Big Apple-based editors pride themselves on the NYT being without a comics page)!

Leave the comics page alone, New Yorkahs.
And leave the IHT's name alone, as well!

If you must change anything at all, do as follows:
change the name of the New York Times to
the "New York International Herald Tribune"!