The New York Times goes global

In an age when newspapers are disappearing, the New York Times has just introduced the Global Edition. The site, which combines content from the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, shares news from around the world with a “global perspective”. Readers can sign up for European and Asian morning news updates (loving this feature, since my best friend runs media relations for a US Air Force base in Japan, and our Skype conversations have just become much more interesting and topical).

What’s more, the focus on global news and information speaks to a larger goal in American society: we must prepare our students for the global world they have inherited. I attended an event last week with Primary Source, an organization that promotes history and humanities education by connecting educators to people and cultures throughout the world. The goal of “global education” is longer about out-performing our contemporaries in the areas of math and science; instead we must be competing as a global society against issues like poverty, climate change, AIDS, and cancer.

So hats off to the NYT for addressing a critical need for global information at one of the most important times in history.

---Marika Beaton is an account supervisor for Solomon McCown & Company. She can be reached by email at mbeaton@solomonmccown.com.