In 2006, there was a headcount cut of 18% which hit the paper hard editorially and from a financial perspective (redundancy costs were high). Since then, circulation of Publico has suffered. Publico needed to do something drastic to bring the paper back. Two weeks ago, Publico's content was restructured and the newspaper was launched with its new design.
 
It hired Mark Porter who also redesigned the Guardian in the UK, as is relatively evident by the similarity in logos. The brief was to design something distinctive that could be used across various mediums including print, online and mobile.

The actual newspaper redesign splits the paper into sections: The main paper carries the hard news. There is always one major story of around two pages, which can come from anywhere around the world. This is followed by a large section of eight to ten pages on Portuguese news – covering economics, sports, political, health, justice etc. Some news wire copy is carried, mainly for the two pages of international news but there is a strong focus on coverage of new stories. Something that is new in the redesign is the 3-4 pages of local news plus around three pages of local adverts.

Publico is also putting a heavy emphasis on photo’s and infographics which sometimes take up to 5columns. Small pictures are mixed in with the text to signify stories. Manuel says that sometimes a photo is enough of a story in itself.

The new P2 supplement is themed on culture, entertainment and lifestyle topics. The supplement has longer, deeper stories, always with commentary and opinion, and sometimes analysing news from the day before.
 
For the reorganisation of the paper to be effective, the newsroom also needed to be reorgnaised.
After working many 18hour days, Manuel tells us that everyone on the staff is tired but it’s been well worth it. With new ways of working, it takes a while for everyone to get used to it.

Now there is much more collaboration between journalists across different mediums. When interviews are done, journalists are now equipped with the necessary digital equipment to provide audio, video and images. They use whichever is most appropriate in that case but Fernandes sees that use of audio and visual will increase with time. Traditional journalists are starting to get more excited about seeing their work in different formats online. The hardest thing has been changing the editors and journalists mindsets, which will be an ongoing task.

Publico has high ABC demographics compared to its competitors which is good for advertising revenue but circulation figures are variable. Fernandes says “in Portugal we have a circulation problem as readers don’t buy every day. Newspapers are sold in the street and less than 4%of our circulation is from subscriptions. People just buy two or three days per week, not the full seven. We are trying to change that.”

Marketing wise Publico won’t discount on price but are working with various outlets where there is multiple readership such as cafes, universities, schools and hotels. One of the promotions has been a free pdf download (normally payable at €150 per annum) to get people used to reading every day. Publico has used this and the new design to approach younger readers. It’s too early to say whether this has worked.

Some of the loyal readers have inevitably had some hesitations on the new design but generally, feedback has been good. Initial figures are hugely impressive – Fernandes tells Editors Weblog that they have seen up to a 50% increase some days in the first week. Some of that he says will be trialling as “people like to have a close view of the new paper”.


The redesign and structure follows newspaper trends from elsewhere around the world – integrating newsroom, providing more local stories and giving readers a choice of platform. All in all, it looks like it is shaping up well for the future and initial circulation increases of Publico are promising.

Source: Interview with Jose Manuel Fernandes, Editor in Chief, Publico

For more on the newspaper market in Portugal, click here