OK, so maybe deinternationalize isn’t a word. I even thought about calling it reinternationalizing. Business Week has decided to do away with its various international editions in print while creating specialized international content on the Web site. The press release notes the increase in traffic to the site from “international” users, by which I assume it means non-U.S. readers. On the surface, this looks like a step away from reporting on international business news. I don’t think that’s it. In a global economy, what happens in any country could be of interest to someone in another country. By putting all its stories on the Web, BW is acknowledging that regional editions are no longer viable in today’s Internet-centric world. That’s what I’m calling reinternationalization.

The BW announcement reminded me of an incident from years ago when I worked at a multinational bank. One of our “frequent traveler” executives had read a story in BW and had, of course, left the copy on the plane. We couldn’t find it in any of the databases that purported to carry the full text of BW. I phoned the local BW business office and they determined the story had only run in the European edition. They got the issue for me from their internal contacts. Shortly thereafter, ABI/INFORM began to carry all the stories from all the regional editions of BW, for which I was duly thankful. That anecdote seems so quaint today and will be even quainter as other publications follow BW’s lead and reinternationalize.