The Atlantic opens global bureau in London
Leading the international bureau is National Correspondent James Fallows, a veteran of The Atlantic who has lived and worked in Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Washington, Austin, Berkeley, and Seattle. With the move, Fallows also becomes The Atlantic’s first Europe editor.
“More than one-quarter of our digital audience lives outside the United States,” says Cohn. “So we are already a global brand. This expansion means we’ll be creating more journalism from Europe for both U.S. and international readers, and bringing our lens on the world to more global leaders in business, finance, technology, culture and government.”
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The Atlantic will hire writers and editors to cover pressing global news with a focus on Europe, and staff to manage audience development, events, communications, and sales and marketing. In recent months, record numbers of readers have sought out The Atlantic to understand what’s happening beyond the headlines. Global readers currently account for nearly 30 per cent of the 33 million unique monthly visitors to TheAtlantic.com.
“Our goal here is ambitious,” says Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic. “We are hoping to bring Atlantic-quality journalism to a global audience in a very deliberate way. There is no one better to lead this effort than Jim Fallows, who understands in his bones the qualities that make a great Atlantic story, and whose desire for innovation and adventure is limitless.”
In becoming The Atlantic’s first Europe editor, Jim Fallows makes good on a prescient recent column by David Brooks, who wrote that the Fallowses have always gone where history is being made. Jim Fallows is The Atlantic’s most seasoned reporter; he wrote his first piece for the magazine on Lloyd Bentsen in December 1974, joined its staff in 1979, and has authored nearly 100 cover stories in the decades since. As a blogger in the nascent days of TheAtlantic.com, Fallows was one of a small group of writers, including Goldberg and correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates, who helped shape the site’s voice and develop its audience.
Joining Fallows to open the bureau will be Atlantic staff writer Sophie Gilbert, a native Londoner who covers culture and entertainment. Gilbert, who began with The Atlantic in 2014, has also been its culture and features editor.
The Atlantic will build a global sales and marketing team, bringing on new staff to work with Lucy Kirkland, The Atlantic’s executive director, EMEA. The Atlantic’s pioneering work in the native advertising space in the U.S. has helped to transform its revenue model; it plans to expand the work of Atlantic Re:think, its branded content studio, to international advertising partners in the coming year.
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