One of the hazards of Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.'s plan to transform the New York Times into what he calls "a single, unified global media brand" is that some of the content adored by readers in, say, Egypt may be repellant to readers in New York, Miami, or Los Angeles.
A good example is the Times' decision to hire as a monthly columnist the Egyptian novelist Alaa Al-Aswany. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Eric Trager has an article in the New Republic describing Mr. Al-Aswany as "a choice the Times will regret," a writer who is "among Egypt's most prolific conspiracy theorists," and who "often uses his very public platform to reinforce some of Egypt's most popular bigotries." Mr. Trager reports that Aswany "said on Egyptian television, for instance, that a 'massive Zionist organization rules America,' which is why 'Obama is not able to go against Israel's desires.'"
Some might ask why the Times even needs Alaa Al-Aswany to make these claims when it already has Thomas Friedman, Roger Cohen, and the rest. But the serious question is whether, in chasing a global audience, the Times will dilute whatever attraction is has for its American audience. The bet of Times management seems to be that its American readership is less particularly American and more part of a global secular elite thought leadership. The Wall Street Journal has managed to publish a global newspaper without diminishing its essential Americanness. But my guess is that Alaa Al-Aswany is only the first of many instances where the Times will have to be careful as it tries to court new readers overseas without alienating its hometown loyalists.