Based on these new reader habits, and on straightforward audience research (the Tribune’s website’s traffic increases after 8am, peaks at lunchtime to then slowly decline till evening), the Tribune is trying to adopt new recipes.

“That means, of course, that an increasing number of newspaper readers already know the main elements of the "news" long before they pick up their morning paper,” writes Timothy J. McNulty, the Tribune's public editor.

According to McNulty, the evening newspaper can also offer, apart from increased reactivity, superior quality or more analytical content.

“Evening newspapers might even be more reflective, geared toward analysis and commentary about the day's events or previewing tomorrow's stories.”

The Tribune’s considerations are an ostensible example of newspapers looking at how to evolve in the digital era. The traffic to the Tribune’s blogs has tripled in the last year.

Blogs, evening downloads, multimedia offerings, these are the tools at the disposal of the newspaper renaissance. What matters is the realization that these new formulas are necessary.

“(Editors) are keenly aware that there is no longer a single solution to serving readers,” says McNulty. “The difference now is that the news is no longer "hot off the press." It is everywhere.”

Source : Chicago Tribune through Poynter