A typical or atypical IHT reader

I found an International Herald Tribune reader blogging, in part, about the paper.

Two things of note:
a) He was a traveling American
b) He thinks the newspaper has too much fashion coverage.

Well, I agree with point 'b' - but the IHT is obliged to follow the money to be a viable business and the advertising money for fashion doesn't follow the IHT but their fashion editor Suzy Menkes.

As to point 'a' - well, no one really knows for sure how much of the newspaper's readership is made up of this category, but we do know they generally buy at newsstands or get given it for free by hotels and airlines, the latter making up a substantial chunk of the IHT's global circulation. How much exactly? I'll get back to you on this.

Here's what we know about this IHT reader, Gerald Day.
a) He runs a blog - A Different Note about Washington: notes on politics, law and the news
http://geraldday.blogspot.com
b) He's American
c) He lives in Sammamish, Washington
d) He is or was working in the accounting industry
e) He's 72.
f) He 'picked up', rather than 'bought' the IHT nearly every day during his recent trip overseas.
g) He's a Pisces (IHT market research supremo Brian Shields, take note.)

Unfortunately, not exactly the target audience of IHT advertisers

Here's what he has to say about the IHT's coverage of the war in Iraq.

October 11, 2007
We left on vacation just as General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker were delivering their momentous reports. Apart from some superficial coverage on CNN, caught in snatches at the airport, I wasn't able to hear much about their testimony. I picked up an International Herald Tribune almost every day, but saw little there about their reports or the situation in Iraq generally. (Possibly the IHT would have more space for such issues if it cut back on its fashion pages.) However, based on what I've seen during the few days we've been back, I didn't miss much. Bush continues to prattle, the Democrats continue to backpedal, and the war goes on.