The Evolution of an Expatriate Newspaper

Abstract

Although seldom the subject of scholarly inquiry, the expatriate newspaper is rich in research possibilities. These papers are a laboratory for understanding the evolution of American journalism. In the interest of exploring these possibilities, our study looks at one of the most venerable expatriate newspapers, the Paris Herald, which James Gordon Bennett, Jr. created in 1887 and carries on today with a different name under the ownership of the New York Times Co. The focus of our study is articles of opinion—editorials, letters to the editor, and so forth—and the degree to which they express criticism of the United States. We find the amount and focus of criticism grew over time, a change that can be explained by the emergence of a diverse, globally-minded, English-speaking readership.

KEYWORDS:

• content analysis
• criticism
• editorials
• expatriate newspapers
• International Herald Tribune
• Paris Herald

Notes

1. One can speculate on other reasons for this lack of attention: that scholars view expatriate newspapers as merely extensions of the home paper, not as having distinct personalities of their own; or that foreign news in general receives far less attention than it deserves; or finally that lack of attention to expatriate newspapers—and the resulting lack of a literature base—reinforces lack of interest.

2. The sole scholarly study dedicated to the Paris Herald is Charles L. Robertson, The International Herald Tribune: the First Hundred Years (1987). A general study of American journalists in Paris is Ronald Weber, News of Paris: American Journalists in the City of Light Between the Wars (2006). Among the personal memoirs are Al Laney, Paris Herald: The Incredible Newspaper (1947) and Eric Hawkins and Robert N. Sturdevant, Hawkins of the Paris Herald (1963). Two oversized illustrated books relating to the Paris Herald are Bruce Singer, One Hundred Years of the Paris Trib: From the Archives of the International Herald Tribune (1987) and Hebe Dorsey, Age of Opulence: The Belle Epoque in the Paris Herald 1890–1914 (1986).