UK: The Guardian to go compact by 2006 as it invests £50m

Posted by Bertrand Pecquerie on June 29, 2004 at 12:32 PM

I maybe missed that before but I think Tim Burt, Media Editor of the Financial Timesis the first to give the information: "Guardian Media Group, the newspaper publisher behind The Guardian, has approved a £50m investment to relaunch its titles in a compact format. The Guardian and The Observer, its Sunday sister title, will become the country's first national titles to adopt the "Berliner" shape and size, used by European papers such as Le Monde (between tabloid and broadsheet). Staff were last week briefed on the plans, which will involve significant investment in new presses to replace the 20-year-old printing facilities. Company insiders described the plans as the biggest shake-up since the Manchester Guardian moved to London 40 years ago and the redesign of 1988. Although the company has not yet signed firm orders or contracts for the presses, the new format is expected to be launched about 2006.

"... Average net circulation at The Guardian fell 6.06 per cent to 379,115 a day in the last six-month period, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The Observer's average circulation was down 1.24 per cent to 450,593 in the same period.

Source: Financial Times

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