By 2027, all Gannett papers will be 4 inches wide

[HejiraHenry]

At the current rate of, um, shrinkage:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003644985

 

[mike311gd]

"I don't know how you guys walk around with those things."

 

[sportsnut]

So if they continue with the cuts I can only see one thing happening and I don't think it is that bad and that is most papers possibly even USA Today will become tabloid.

In the UK, Norway, Sweden, Germany etc a lot of the papers have become tabloid because of cost of printing and ink etc. I also think if lets say USA Today became a tabloid more people would pick it up. Even if the price became $1 an issue. I pick up New York Post and I enjoy the coverage but believe if USA Today did it with the quality journalism compare to tabloid journalism the circulation would grow even more.

USA Today gets most of its circulation from Airports, Hotels etc and have you ever tried reading the New York Times or any broadsheet on a plane, train, car, bus etc??? Its not pretty for you or whoever is right next to you at the time.

USA Today is already tabloid in the layout and I know they got the presses to print it tabloid right now because of the Sports weekly.

 

[DanOregon]

Great thinking. If the smaller size has led to further declines in circulation, lets make it even smaller! People aren't stupid. I've never known anyone who doesn't read a newspaper because it is too bulky.
No doubt the change will be introduced by saying the smaller size was made with the reader in mind.

 

[BYH]

Bob Jelenic has no idea why he just ejaculated.

 

[steveu]

Personally, I don't think tabs are a bad thing. Rocky Mountain News, Newsday, Chicago Sun-Times... it's a way to create more pages in the paper, for one thing. Trib-Review in Pittsburgh does its sports section as a tab most days and it turns out pretty good.

Now, 4-inch papers? That's NOT a good thing. lol

 

[Dan Rydell]

No doubt the change will be introduced by saying the smaller size was made with the reader in mind.

Exactly. One of the papers I did slag time at actually said studies have confirmed that readers prefer the new size and find it more readable.

I think readers sit at home and wonder who writes that bull****.

 

[Dan Rydell]

Bob Jelenic has no idea why he just ejaculated.

Well worth repeating here.

Great line. Just don't do the mental picture.





And now you can't help it...........can you?

 

[FileNotFound]

I've never known anyone who doesn't read a newspaper because it is too bulky.

I've known plenty. Too bulky, too messy, can't read it on the train/plane, takes up too much space in the recycle bin, "I get ink all over my hands," etc. Real people really do think this way, and most of the people that I've talked to actually do prefer the smaller 50-inch and 48-inch formats.

I'd be interested to know how much money is actually being saved here, once you figure in the costs of doing the reformatting, but that's another question.

There's nothing wrong with a physically smaller newspaper. It affects the quality of the stories within not at all. At least it shouldn't.