Margie Dana

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to my son, Jacob, now 12. His favorite piece of printing is Sports Illustrated for Kids. Hey, it counts.

Thanks for subscribing to Margie's Print Tips, written to build bridges between the printing industry and its customers.

I Read the News Today. Oh Boy.

My first writing assignments were for my hometown weekly newspaper, the Madison Eagle. I was the stringer who covered the exciting beats - like town meetings and school committees. There was nothing quite like seeing my byline in print.

I still love the medium. I get most of my daily news from printed newspapers - the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal (on weekdays), and I add the New York Times on Sunday (OK, I don't do it for the news. I do it for the magazine, puzzle, and movie and book reviews).

For breaking news, I visit Google News regularly. TV news? Not so much.

Newspapers are the one form of print that's been in the media steadily of late. The trend is undeniable: daily US newspapers are shrinking faster than the Olsen twins. Print advertising supports newspapers, and this is precisely what's going away. Where? To the Web, of course. And when advertising disappears, papers are in trouble.

According to the Newspaper Association of America, print ad revenues are expected to remain flat in 2007. However, online ad revenue will grow 22%.

As a result, many newspapers have to cut costs. You've seen it reported, week after week since last year.

A few stories stand out in my mind. Last September, Dean Baquet, the editor of the Los Angeles Times, resigned (or was he pushed?) when he refused to make cuts in his newsroom budget.

A few days ago, it was reported that layoffs are imminent at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Once again, dwindling advertising is cited as the main cause.

The Handwriting (or is it Ink?) on the Wall

Check out the web site for the Newspaper Association of America at www.naa.org. The cover story for this month's issue of Presstime magazine was written by Michael Snyder. It's called "Designing for the Future" and goes into detail about what today's newspaper publishers are up against, and what solutions they're implementing.

Snyder writes that The New York Times Co. will close its Edison, NJ, plant next summer. They'll spend $150 million to consolidate printing/packaging in Queens, NY. This consolidation is expected to save the company $30 million annually.

Newspaper publishers are building new production facilities and using new presses to print their papers. Newspapers are not just getting thinner; they are getting smaller. With a nip-and-tuck of the paper's width, substantial savings can be achieved. Snyder cites examples in his article, noting that these papers also being printed on thinner newsprint.

Honey, I Shrunk the WSJ

On to my beloved daily, the Wall Street Journal. On January 2nd, the WSJ unveiled its brand new format. Its web width has gone from 60 inches to 48 inches, and holding it in your hands is a bit unnerving. Lighter than air, it is. It is a Dow Jones & Co. publication, and it's been reported that this smaller format will save them $18 million a year in newsprint costs.

What's interesting is that the WSJ published an entire section about this new format in Tuesday's newspaper. That's 8 full pages devoted to why they shrunk the paper and why it's a major improvement.

It has a brand new typeface, designed especially for the paper, called "Exchange." There's more color and more graphics. There's more distinction between main heads and subheads. There's also new coverage of issues such as fashion and worldly goods (I want to type "wordly goods" in the worst way. Bad me.).

Even the new Journal's designer, Dr. Mario Garcia, has written an article for this section, explaining the elements of good newspaper design.

I like this petite journale - I do - but I liked the old one just fine. The editors say this new format is a response to readers' needs and wishes. I've read the WSJ for years, and I never thought it was too big to handle.

What Would Frank Think?

Print industry expert Frank Romano reads the WSJ online, and saw no change there. I asked Frank to comment on the new print version. He said that "those design principles were just pretty language to make a necessity palatable. Now they can print in more locations (they could not print the previous size in Hawaii, for instance) and run more color ads. And, by the way, they had to re-design the publication because of the new size. If the design principles were so important, why didn't they apply them to the previous version?" Good point.

Romano added, "If newspapers keep trimming, eventually they will be printed on ticker tape. Because there is no market for ticker tape any more."

As a fan of the WSJ, I do hope this new format makes them profitable and that they continue to publish for many decades to come. I take my coffee with my newspaper every day. It's a very civilized way to start the day.

What do YOU think? Drop me a line at mdana@bostonprintbuyers.com. And while you're thinking about it, please take our new BPB poll on the home page, top right, at www.bostonprintbuyers.com. Here's what we're asking: How do you get your dose of daily news? Newspapers? Online? Radio? TV?

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