The Times is going to Poland. Well, sort of. The paper has secured a syndication deal with the publisher of a soon-to-be-launched Polish newspaper, Polska, which will allow it to publish Times articles, bearing The Times's logo, on its pages.
This syndication relationship resembles recent Times partnerships with Zaman in Turkey and Yomiuri in Japan (which carries a separate section branded The Times).
Polska, due to launch in the autumn, is published by a German group, Verlagsgruppe Passau. Its editor-in-chief, Paweł Fąfara, is clearly delighted with the initiative, talking of "utilising the highest quality of journalism and commercial ideas of our British colleagues." And Tomasz Wróblewski, a member of Polskapresse management board, said: "The Times is a symbol of success in a changing and developing media market."
I think the "success" is a reference to The Times's change of format and to its online investment. Of course, the jury is out on that, but its owners, News International, will be delighted at the positive promotion of the paper in a country where it isn't known. That's one of the advantages of the internationalisation of newspaper brands. The New York Times, The Guardian and Le Monde are engaged in similar ventures. It makes sense in the rapidly developing global media landscape to introduce new audiences to brands, and it will surely help to lure more people to those papers' websites.
Synergy between newsprint and online is a sensible strategy during this transitional stage with one dominant medium gradually giving way to another.
