WORLD: Medium of the Week - International Herald Tribune revamps its content.

The Paris-based daily is set to grow under a new single owner, Mark Tungate writes.

The International Herald Tribune is tweaking its content and adding colour to expand its readership and boost its offering for advertisers.

The changes have been introduced due to a change in ownership at the paper: in January 2003, The New York Times acquired full ownership of the IHT from The Washington Post, paying dollars 65 million for its 50 per cent share.

For more than 35 years, the IHT was jointly owned by The New York Times and The Washington Post, neither of which seemed willing to provide the investment it needed. Now The New York Times appears to be making a serious investment in its Paris-based paper.

A raft of modernisation initiatives, including the long-awaited introduction of colour on the front page, are leading the change. Richard Wooldridge, the president and chief executive of the IHT, says: 'This is an incredibly exciting time for the paper. As well as introducing colour, we'll be enhancing our news content.'

Specific enhancements include bi-weekly Expanded Global Funds coverage, a weekly Wednesday column on human resources issues called The Workplace and a redesigned back page devoted to Enhanced International Business Travel, all of which are already up and running in the revamped paper.

Editorial talent from its sister paper The New York Times is beefing up the paper's columns: Floyd Norris, The New York Times' chief financial correspondent, pens an international markets column, while Roger Cohen, the former foreign editor of The New York Times, starts a twice-weekly column on European affairs in March.