Results matching “go to broadsheet format”

In 2005, the Guardian prepared itself for what was heralded as a revolution in newspaper journalism by switching from traditional broadsheet to the Berliner format. (See the first issue of the Berliner Guardian, right, printed 12 September 2005.) For the first time since its makeover, the Guardian explains in detail why it decided to make the move and how it went about doing it.

Four years ago, when news first got out that the Guardian was getting geared up for a reinvention, journalistic tongues were soon wagging, such was the interest generated among its rivals.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin has launched in tabloid format, switching from its usual broadsheet layout. Publisher Dennis Francis and editor Frank Bridgewater wrote in the first ever tabloid edition that "while we might look and feel different, our commitment to news has not changed".

Although the newspaper will now be printed as a tabloid, it will continue to be organised into sections with a few changes and additions. Explaining their decision, Francis and Bridgewater pointed out that "the Society of Newspaper Design recently honored its five 'World's Best Designed' newspapers for 2008 -- and four are compacts". The Honolulu Star-Bulletin is by no means the first publication to make such a change, the Chicago Tribune in January for example, and its move marks a definite trend within the newspaper industry.

Source: Charles Apple

The Belfast daily has announced that it will be ditching the broadsheet format in favour of the tabloid one, with both morning and afternoon editions going compact.

The decision to downsize is the result of extensive market research, says Michael Brophy, CEO of Independent News & Media (NI) which publishes the paper.

Blick is the most widely read paid newspaper in Switzerland, and has just made the somewhat unusual decision to revert to back to broadsheet format. Blick changed to a tabloid format four years ago, reportedly in order to compete with free daily rivals. However, free daily 20 Minutes has since overtaken Blick in terms of readership. 20 Minutes' increased popularity may be a factor in the official reason for the change; that Blick wants to differentiate itself within the market, as well as from its own free daily newspaper Blick am Abend.

Moving in a more common direction, UK, two long-established local newspapers have made the leap from broadsheet to tabloid. The 236-year-old Reading Chronicle, owned by the Berkshire Media Group, and the 162 year old Newsquest owned Darlington and Stockton Times are the two publications making the change.

Chronicle editor Sally Stevens explained that the decision came in response to reader opinion and that "the compact size of the paper is a more modern format which complements our modern town".  Times editor Malcolm Warne explained that for his publication the move "means we can offer a more focused local news service - there's an additional cost to that, but we've been able to make that investment for the benefit of the paper".

Source: Press Gazette

After announcing its move to tabloid format last week, the 'To-Go' edition of the Chicago Tribune hit the streets yesterday.  The Tribune had assured readers that the tabloid edition would 'provide the same Chicago Tribune content packaged in a new compact format'.  Its aim is to provide residents of the commuter town with a more convenient read on the journey to work.

The first ever 'Trib Tab' has been met with positive reviews.  Subscribers continue to receive the broadsheet edition, but after reading the tabloid version Mark Fitzgerald of Editor and Publisher belives that 'Subscribers are now getting the second-best paper.'  Fitzgerald thinks that the Tribune's traditional content sits more comfortably in its new tabloid home; 'the news content doesn't seem like an afterthought as it often looks in the broadsheet', and the columnists are reclaiming the prominence they lost in the redesign.

Following recent layout changes, the Chicago Tribune announced yesterday that it is to appear in tabloid format from Monday for weekday sales at area commuter stations, newsstands and newspaper boxes. The move is an attempt to increase sales, and puts the paper in direct competition with the tabloid-sized Chicago Sun-Times.

However, home delivery subscribers and those who buy the paper outside the Chicago area will continue to find the traditional broadsheet.  Both versions will have the same editorial content.  

The first print edition of a new Nigerian newspaper, NEXT, was published on 4 January, following the launch of its online edition in December. The paper is owned by Timbuktu Media Group, and its publisher Dele Olojede described its aim as "to provide news and informed opinion fairly and accurately to the Nigerian public in any land."  

Indian media firm Sharp Vision Media, based in Haryana, announced the launch of a regional evening newspaper Abhi-Abhi. The eveninger is printed in as a full-colour broadsheet on 12 pages, priced at INR1.5 (US$0.03), and is aimed towards a younger audience aged between 20 and 30 years. 

Weekly newspaper, The Gazette & Herald after 200 years has put the kibosh on its broadsheet format and has switched to a tabloid.

According to Gazette editor Chris Buxton, "We set out to create a slightly up-market tabloid version of what was a highly-respected broadsheet.  The aim was to modernize the look without losing the unique local feel of the paper. We're very pleased with the end result and the reception it has received."

Source: Hold the Front Page

On October 24, the Boston Globe introduced a new section entitled "g".  G is a magazine format section that focuses on arts, culture, entertainment, people and lifestyle.  Also included in the section are comics, a TV guide, restaurants and food.  

The change was introduced in order to facilitate navigation throughout the paper and most of the pages are in color.

Het Parool, one of the Netherlands paid-for daily newspapers has managed to fight dropping circulation figures by staying "local."  Het Parool has maintained a stable circulation figure for the last five years.

Frits Campagne, publisher of the paper described how the paper remains loyal to its traditions in order to maintain strong readership figures and retain a strong position in the Amsterdam market.

A new free broadsheet, Briefing, launched in Dallas in the USA yesterday.

This new addition beings the number of free newspapers in the city to three. Al Día  is a free Spanish language paper and Quick is youth oriented newspaper.

All three newspapers are published by the A.H. Belo Corporation, the parent company of leading Dallas paid paper, The Dallas Morning News.

The Dallas Morning News will supply much of the content for the new daily, which will be distributed to high-income households that don't subscribe to the Dallas Morning News.

This new addition to the market is unusual in two respects, in that it is in a broadsheet format and that it will be home-delivered.

The rumoured change at Quick from a daily to a weekly has not occurred, and the newspapers website is still running and does not mention any such move.

Briefing will have an initial circulation of 200,000 and will be distributed four days a week, from Wednesday to Saturday.

Source: Newspaper Innovation

Newspapers in Dubai do not disappear but reinvent themselves, thus boosting "staying power", according to Mario R. Garcia. However, an anonymous newspaperwoman mentioned that most of the papers have articles that are "simply too long".  

The newspaperwoman went on to say that Arabic daily Alittihad is "the most boring" but continues to be published since it is state-subsidized. Albayan's makeover made the paper more appealing to readers, whereas Alkhaleej isn't "neatly designed" or "organized". Garcia pointed out that because Albayan (see left) uses photos that are over three times as big as in other titles, it is visually more interesting to young readers who favor to "look" and not "read".

The Arabic paper that is most attractive to younger readers is Emarat al youm (see left), "with its compact tabloid format, the nice illustrations, and content that has appeal", said the newspaperwoman.

The newest addition to Dubai's English-language dailies is The National (see below left), whose design Garcia praises, mentioning that it is for the "elite reader" who wants his paper to be "perfectly organized."

"White space that travels up and down the broadsheet pages to remind everyone that there is room to grow here.  Overall, it is a sort of The Guardian of London, before it redesigned to the Berliner format. If one word describes the look of a newspaper, gravitas comes to mind here;" said Garcia.

Source: Garcia Media through IFRA Executive News Service

The Times of London published today its first issue featuring a full-color, revamped design, Stephen Brook of the Guardian reports.

The new design will affect the Monday to Friday paper, not the Saturday edition, and will include color-coded sections, an expanded features section, and more two-page spreads. According to Brook, journalists at the Times have been told to focus on "longer pieces or short news items," and to avoid "mid-length stories."

The redesign is approximately a year and a half removed from the Times' most recent renovation, a switch in font, and almost four years from its switch from a broadsheet to a tabloid format.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned paper will continue redesigning until September.

Source: The Guardian

The Editors Weblog is running a series of exclusive interviews about the future of journalism with top editors at leading newspapers around the world. Here is the latest installment with Dan Bogler, Managing Editor of the Financial Times in the UK.

Click here to view all interviews in this series. Other titles include The New York Times, the Guardian, Fairfax Media, the Hindustan Times, etc. (full list at the bottom of the interview).


Questions: "News, journalism, newspapers: same past, different futures?"


- How long do you think you will define your company as a newspaper company or a print company?

We see ourselves as a news organization and we're becoming much more agnostic about our distribution channels. We're becoming much more interested in creating relevant information for our readers and much less interested in how it gets to the readers. Pearson, the parent company, clearly is an education company with a print publishing arm and an information division, which includes the FT. At the FT level, we consider ourselves to be a financial news business more than a newspaper. Our mission is to be the gold standard for global business news in print and online - and in any other formats.

- At this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, a panel of futurists claimed that print newspapers wouldn't exist by 2014. To what extent do you agree with this?

Largely but not completely. 10 years from now - 2014 may be slightly too short a time frame - we will still have printed newspapers, because people like reading  things in print. Newspapers, just like the book, are convenient to read in places you can't do with a computer; but my belief is that a lot of what will be printed will be analysis, comment, analysis and opinion. The actual news will be more or less online or in other more timely formats. In a way the FT will split in two, with FT.com for all the news that's breaking and some immediate reactions and  opinion. The more considered analysis will be almost an Economist-type publication. Maybe it wouldn't have to be broadsheet anymore, it could be tabloid or even magazine format. To put it very crudely, you'd have all the news online, and you'd have 12 pages of Martin Wolf the next day in print, and all the editorials, columnists, features and more.

- In journalism's multi-centennial history, do you view the emergence of digital journalism as part of the continuity, or as a complete breakaway with previous forms of journalism?

There's one thing that's old and one thing that's new. What's old and part of the continuum is that traditional companies are going online. Our journalists are now fully integrated and write online and in print. I'm sure that in 2 years time they'll all be carrying video cameras. We've gone from zero videos website to over 100 per month in the last 18 months. That's part of the continuum: it's us doing the same thing in different distribution channels.

What's new is the blogosphere, citizen journalists and the idea that anyone - people who are not qualified journalists, either experts in a narrow field or just interested citizens - can start a blog or website and distribute it. For the FT, you would think it's negative in the sense that there's more news and opinion and more competitors. In fact, that's not really true, it almost enhances the position of leading media brands for several reasons. One is we are trusted, people believe the news they read with us. Secondly, we select and edit, which becomes an increasingly crucial function as there is more information out there. The more 'over-informed' people are, the more likely people who want to know what's actually going on will turn to a few sources that tell them what s actually important. That's what professional newspapers do really well.

- Do you believe in the increasingly active role of the user in the news process, and is it a threat or an opportunity for professional journalists?

I do believe in their increasingly active role of users: very often readers are more informed than us. If you look at an old format like the letters page in the newspaper, the amount of expertise that our readers have, who are often professionals in the City, is just incredible. They know more about it in certain aspects than our journalists. That's why we get CEOs, academics, lawyers, heads of accountancy firms and more writing in to us to say what's actually happening. They can do this online with comments or take part in Q&As, or print their views in the pages of the FT and FT.com. That sort of content is very helpful. We also have a function for any user to comment on the website's stories.

Is it a threat? Sure, to some extent. But as long as it's happening on our site or in the pages of our newspaper, it's been bundled, monitored, checked for quality and therefore is important. We're not going to turn into a place where we just repeat hundreds of readers' letters and have no journalists of our own. It's more of an opportunity for our journalists to become more informed and build contacts among readers. And it's amazing that all these readers are willing to give this information for free.

- Do you consider the Golden Age of investigative journalism is already past, or just beginning?

I don't know. That's a really hard one. I might say it's already past.

There's so much more information out there and it's so much harder for companies to hide information. Take the Northern Rock story, which was broken by BBC journalists, and there was a bank run as a result. It's harder to hide information. The idea that journalists have to do long-term, deep, undercover investigations where they reveal something months later - I don't think it works like that anymore. Journalists still have scoops and still break important stories, but it tends to be in a much shorter time frame. It tends to be a single development that they're breaking rather than a long series of connections.

But frankly, newspapers and media organizations are under pressure. It's hard for us to send a journalist or a group of journalists off three months investigating something - and if nothing works that's a shame but nevermind. We don't have resources to let people go off and do that for such a long time. I think The Golden Age of journalists working undercover, developing sources and breaking big scandals is less likely; but revealing news that people don't want out there, on a short term basis, uncovering a scandal and having it come to light, that's more likely. As soon as a tiny thing breaks now, it gets distributed so quickly that it's hard to see a journalist working undercover for a long time and gradually piecing something together without having it go public much earlier in the process.


Stay tuned for more interviews in our series. Among the other titles that have been asked to participate in these interviews are:

- The New York Times - Jonathan Landman (US)
- Financial Times - Dan Bogler (UK)
- Guardian (UK)
- Washington Post - Jim Brady (US)
- Globe & Mail - Ed Greenspon (Canada)
- The Times (UK)
- The Economist (UK)
- Gazeta Wyborcza - Jaroslaw Kurski (Poland)
- Le Monde (France)
- Die Welt (Germany)
- The Hindustan Times - Pankaj Paul (India)
- Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
- JoongAng Ilbo (South Korea)
- The Age / Fairfax - Mike van Niekerk (Australia)
- The Nation - Pana Janviroj (Thailand)
- Punch (Nigeria)
- El Tiempo (Colombia)
- Clarin (Argentina)
- Gulf News - Abdul Hamid Ahmad (UAE)

As of March 7, The Oxford Times will change from a broadsheet to a compact format.

The property section will stay as a broadsheet however; the alterations will change the news, sport, jobs, and classified sections.

Editor of The Oxford Times Derek Holmes said: “This is a historic change. Our research tells us this is what readers want. It is also essential if The Oxford Times is to continue to attract new readers and maintain its place as Oxfordshire's leading weekly newspaper. We are changing the size of the paper, but our values will remain the same. We will explain more over the coming weeks.”

Source: Oxford Times

Etienne Mougeotte, editor-in-chief of French newspaper Le Figaro wants to change the layout of the newspaper in order to make it “closer” to its readers.

Will Lewis, editor of the Daily Telegraph, announced his desire to produce a paper “for all of Britain.” Once again, the Telegraph is adopting a strategy ‘opposite’ – though they might disagree with that – to its competitors.

The Northern Echo claims that its decline in sales has come to a halt since it went tabloid in February.

Starting May 4, the Guardian Weekly will follow the Guardian’s lead and shrink from tabloid to half-Berliner format.

Publisher Fairfax Media will introduce a narrower broadsheet format for the Sydney Morning Herald and its sister publication The Age as part of a company-wide restructure.

Now that the e-ink technology is maturing, the newspaper industry has decided that the time has come for serious testing and application. Most experimentation took and takes place using the trusted print content, converted for electronic reading. That will never do the job. What is mostly needed in this phase are newly developed editorial formats especially designed for the generations of e-reader hardware which now are coming to the market.

Since the Halifax Evening Courier turned from broadsheet to tabloid last month, sales have increased three percent.

 

‘The last issue of the New York Times’ was published by Italian daily La Stampa deputy editor Vittorio Sabadin on January 19. Two weeks later the book was sold out.

Sabadin retraces the history of the challenges that newspapers have faced in the last 30 years, and their responses. The author provides the reader with working solutions and with the reasons for their success. He comes to a conclusion that is rather surprising when worded by a journalist:  “It is not a tragedy if the printed newspaper dies; what needs to be saved and will last is good journalism”.

Editorsweblog brings you Sabadin’s most relevant insights.