As the new year began, International Herald Tribune Publisher Michael Golden and two top editors announced a series of major changes to the global newspaper that began in January and will continue through this spring.

For casual readers, the most visible of these changes will likely be the addition of color (beginning in March) to the front and back pages of the 117-year-old newspaper.

Regular readers, however, are likely to notice the numerous new columns and features that have already started appearing.

These announced changes and enhancements did not come as a complete surprise.

Last November, at the same time that Golden, a former board member of the IHT, was named publisher, the paper had concluded a six-month study surveying readers, potential readers and advertisers. That survey indicated that it was time to enhance the venerable daily.

The name remains the same

Unique among general-interest daily newspapers, the Paris-based IHT’s print readership is a truly global one. It is printed at 26 sites around the world and sold in more than 180 countries.

The IHT is published six days a week (each weekday and a combined Saturday-Sunday issue) and has a circulation of approximately 245,000.

From 1997 to 2001, the IHT increased its paid-for circulation by 27 percent, or approximately 47,000 copies. Part of the reason for this substantial boost in circulation was the start of a number of partnerships with major newspapers around the world. These partnerships, such as the one in Japan, where Asahi Shimbun inserts an  English-language version of its newspaper into copies of the IHT sold in that country, helped fuel subscriber interest.

For much of its recent history, the IHT was published as a partnership between The Washington Post and The New York Times, but in October 2002, the two companies announced that The Times was buying out the Post’s share of the newspaper.

In January 2003, The Times took full control of the IHT after the completion of $65 million deal.

Soon after The Times took over, there was some speculation in the industry that the IHT would be renamed The New York Times International Edition or something similar, but executives at the IHT have said the name of the paper will remain as it is.

Although the banner remains the same, editors retooled the paper’s inside pages. Changes include:

*Media and communications business - Every Monday, the IHT is focusing much of its business content on the media industry, including the latest news, trends and developments in television, radio, newspapers, magazines, book publishing and the Internet. The paper is also featuring a European advertising column.

*Expanded global funds - Increased coverage of global funds appears each Tuesday and Thursday.

*Workplace - A Wednesday column covers issues affecting employees and managers.

*Page two worldviews - The second page of the IHT features excerpts of news and commentary from leading newspapers worldwide.

*Enhanced international business travel - A redesigned back features weather and an international traveler update. New columns and features will be added later this year, offering information on business travel, technology and entertainment from the perspective of the senior business executive. The back page will also offer new premium color advertising opportunities.

*Expanded op-ed - An op-ed page has been added to the Saturday-Sunday edition.

*Special series - Exclusive series and special enterprise reports are planned that will include more coverage of the European Union.

Boost space

In addition to extra content, the newspaper announced plans to boost space (a current edition of the IHT is often 18 to 22 pages) and hire more journalists.

Shortly after the new features began, IHT readers weighed in with their reactions.

“Readers have welcomed new columns such as Eric Pfanner’s On Advertising, Doreen Carvajal’s The Workplace and Floyd Norris’ International Markets column as a welcome addition to the broad reporting that the IHT provides,” said Taryn Dobson, a spokesperson for the IHT.

“The structural change of moving the weather to the back page has been liked by some and disliked by others as you would expect from a newspaper with such loyal readers as ours.”

The Internet version of the IHT, meantime, was substantially revamped throughout 2003. Traffic had increased to 1 million unique visitors each month for each of the last seven months of the year, the IHT said, reflecting an 80 percent boost over the year-earlier period.