Some of the news that’s fit to print

I have often wondered why the International Herald-Tribune is published. Because of early printing deadlines, its news is stale, and the benefit of having New York Times and Washington Post material has been erased by the Internet. James Ledbetter clearly agrees with me: “The Trib‘s bigger problem is not that it’s a day stale but that it’s decades stale.”

Despite its evident inadequacies, however, I know intelligent people who buy the Trib every day. At the World Economic Forum in Geneva, it’s probably the most popular daily read, even though both the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal Europe are available every morning with fresh and voluminous material.

Part of the problem the Trib has, which Ledbetter doesn’t explore, is its odd joint ownership by The New York Times and The Washington Post. I once interviewed a senior Trib editor for a job and he confessed that there was constant frustration with the owners. Because they are vigorous competitors on home turf, neither The Times or The Post has much of an incentive to invest in the joint operation. But there’s a bit too much pride involved for either to pull the plug.