If only Think! were the official blog for readers of the IHT

A 'drunken expat' [ http://bart-calendar.livejournal.com/ ] is happy to have been linked to www.ihtreaders.blogspot.com, writing
that 'the official blog for readers of the International Herald Tribune is linking to me today'.

I'd like to say it was official. It's very much not.

I think it would be great if it was an intergral part of www.iht.com but I am not sure they are quite confident enough in their own skin for such a maverick beast in their belly.

But it does bring up the question of why not? There are are many devoted IHT fans worldwide who I believe would enjoy a forum to praise and keep 'their paper' on their toes, complain too (let's not forget that most letters of complaint are neither published nor even passed onto the publisher or marketing director, addressed in large part as they are to the editor), but haven't found this blog.

The question is, how to reach them?

Certainly a daily free house advertisement in the IHT would help, as would a prominent link on www.iht.com

It would require them to respect the editorial independence of this blog, and to trust me that I, and their readers, have their best interests at heart. Which I don't think is too big an ask.

Incidentally, the drunken expat writes that being quoted on this blog was 'more of a response he received from the IHT', which brings to mind two questions.

1. How many letters of complaint from IHT readers did the IHT receive about the change of the masthead and what did they say; what was the majority consensus?

If any IHT insider can give Think! a steer on this, it would be appreciated.

2. Why wouldn't the editor of the IHT take the time to reply to someone who is clearly a loyal reader? (Even if he is a drunken American expat in Montpellier and hardly whom the IHT's advertisers are trying to reach - or perhaps they are, if he is a trustafarian and has a taste for luxury goods.)

One can generally say that for every letter of complaint a newspaper receives on a given subject, there are at least 10 other readers who didn't write.

My guess is that they didn't get too many letters of complaint on this, and this may encourage them to think further about which brand to move forward with...





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