In March, Portada reported that the International Edition of The Miami Herald , which was introduced in June 1946 would be closed on June 11th, due to a strong decline in advertising. Good news: the edition is being relaunched by the newly formed Herald International Media Group. June 14th was the first day of operation.
The Miami Herald Media Company has appointed the newly formed Herald International Media Group with the rights to edit, print and distribute the Miami Herald International Edition in the Caribbean and Latin America.
The Herald International Media Group is owned and operated y three executives that run the daily operation. Two of whom Isabel Entenza Director of Operations and Circulation, and Bob Oliva Director of Marketing and Advertising held the same positions with the Miami Herald. The third member Charles Sherman who is Executive Editor came from the International Herald Tribune.
Content
“Since it is an English product targeting the business professional that either travels or lives in the region we will specifically target the business centers.”, Bob Oliva tells Portada.
“It is a compilation of all the international material available to us through McClatchy news services, this includes all the columnist, and is totally different edition from the Miami edition, at present it is a 16 page package, 10 pages of news, 2 of living & art, 2 of sports and 2 business. We might expand it to 20 pages next year if budget allows.”
Distribution
At present the International Edition is publishing and being distributed to surrounding areas from The Bahamas (10,000), Santo Domingo (2,000), Saint Maarten (3,000) and Ecuador (2,000) with set plans to open Panama City, and Bogotá on August 1st. “Our next targets are Costa Rica and Mexico”, Oliva says.
International Business Model
Mr. Sherman who is based in France works with editors in New Delhi, India, through a new arrangement that is using the Internet to upload the pages on a website and having the partners in the Caribbean and Latin America downloading and printing the paper for early distribution in their respective markets. Daily communication between Miami, France and New Delhi is done via instant messenger and Skype. Regarding advertising categories, Oliva says that he expects real estate, financials and high-end luxury products to be the top categories this year.
