Get wired to win.
Paper folding
So amid plenty of news about newspaper woes (I'm not bothering to link anything--news of this is ubiquitous), I see this tutorial about how to make a broadsheet paper easier to read on the bus.
It doesn't take much to draw some sort of connection: why make it hard to read the paper on the train, bus, whatever. Why make readers hack the paper? Besides, they're not the only ones who dislike broadsheet.
My father-in-law, every inch a conservative, prefers the local alt-weekly to the mainstream corporate paper in town for two reasons:
It doesn't take much to draw some sort of connection: why make it hard to read the paper on the train, bus, whatever. Why make readers hack the paper? Besides, they're not the only ones who dislike broadsheet.
My father-in-law, every inch a conservative, prefers the local alt-weekly to the mainstream corporate paper in town for two reasons:
- The weekly spends more time on a story. He might just read one (and, like as not, grumble about the personals in the back) but he wants in-depth coverage.
- The format. He likes the tabloid because it's easier to read when he goes for lunch by himself.
8 Comments
-
Comment by Matt Neznanski on July 8, 2008 at 9:54am -
Patrick,
You know, if we were to make a major break from the daily broadsheet, you'd think that page designers would be beside themselves with joy with the opportunity to break outside the box. Maybe news orgs could start luring good designers away from graphics firms...
-
Comment by Zac Echola on July 8, 2008 at 10:57am
-
I prefer tabs, though berliner comes in a close second. I started out in this business at an alt-weekly, so I have some bias towards the format.
I only pick up a newspaper if it happens to be available and I want to kill some time on the bus or whatever. Like Pat, I have my laptop and phone for daily and breaking news.
If I were given carte blanche to turn a daily on its head, I'd change it to a series of weekly tabs. The front of the book would contain daily news capsules while the rest would focus on a particular topic in depth (i.e. Thursdays would be mostly entertainment content and advertising). Offer up granular subscriptions since the number one reason people don't read newspapers is lack of time ("I'll take the Monday business paper and Thursday entertainment").
Push the daily news coverage to the Web. Use that as a metric for what should be covered in depth in that weeks paper.
It would also help trim the fat. If one paper doesn't do well, you can change the format without affecting other content. Or, if you need to cut costs, simply drop a day, save the printing costs and reallocate content creators to the Web or other products.
-
Comment by Matt Neznanski on July 8, 2008 at 11:02am
-
Zac,
Great ideas. When you get a chance to flip it upside down (and, who knows, you might be able to pick a paper up for a song by Jan.) give me a call.
-
Comment by Will Sommer on July 8, 2008 at 2:44pm - Good point, Matt. I saw the same article about how to fold a paper, but didn't make the connection you did. Personally, I find that when I'm commuting or eating lunch a tabloid format is a lot easier to read.
-
Comment by Matt Neznanski on July 9, 2008 at 4:02pm
-
Hey look everybody! Snark!
Now there's a novel idea.
-
-
A revolution is just a 360 degree turn.
(Note: That was better snark than "The (insert object) called; they want their (insert related object) back" joke). Some of us do it better than others.)
-
Comment by Matt Neznanski on July 10, 2008 at 9:23am
- Weird. The curmudgeon seems to have weighed anchor and taken his comments with him.
Add a Comment
You need to be a member of Wired Journalists to add comments!
About Wired Journalists
Ryan Sholin
created this social network on Ning.
Where credit is due
Howard Owens and Zac Echola are the co-founders of Wired Journalists, sharing all the credit and blame with Ryan Sholin.
Patrick Thornton is around here somewhere, as well.
Contact any of us with questions, suggestions, or concerns.
Thanks!
Patrick Thornton is around here somewhere, as well.
Contact any of us with questions, suggestions, or concerns.
Thanks!
Chat
Loading Chat...
© 2008 Created by Ryan Sholin on Ning. Create your own social network
The broadsheet only works when you can read it at the table. On the go it sucks - it's a major hassle.
It always amuses me when some old-time journalists wants to see an e-reader that mimics a broadsheet. The worst part of most dailies in America is the print format. For most uses, the tabloid format makes more sense.
What I think makes the most sense in the future is for news organizations to stop printing a daily newspaper. Instead, make a weekly newspaper like the Economist. The magazine format rocks, and it works well for in-depth stories. In-depth analysis is where print needs to be. It makes sense to do that on a weekly basis, not daily.
I look forward to this future. I have my computer and mobile phone for daily and breaking news.