WHEN THE NEW YORK TIMES’ SERIES investigating the nail salon industry, “Unvarnished,” went viral in May, the criminally low wages and health problems suffered by manicurists weren’t the only story. National and international media reported that the Times’ website published the stories in Korean, Chinese, and Spanish translation—a first for the paper.

Mainstream media organizations have long produced foreign-language editions (the Times launched its Chinese edition in 2012), apps, and special issues to reach broader audiences, but such initiatives are typically separate versions of flagship publications, with their own brands and audiences. Bi- or multilingual publications and media organizations tend to build an identity around their multicultural focus, which separates them from mainstream media.

With “Unvarnished,” however, the translations appeared on the paper’s main English-language site, not a special edition. That’s a model used by other large media organizations—it’s currently Guardian Moscow week, with stories from that city appearing in English and Russian every day—but also by a number of smaller-scale publications recently. It’s an approach that allows publications without foreign-language editions or overseas bureaus to offer translations of individual stories that could reach broader audiences. More.

See: Columbia Journalism Review

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