From a statement released moments ago by Corporate:
Gannett today announced that it has signed a letter of intent with The Columbus Dispatch for the possible printing of The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Kentucky Enquirer in a new, more compact, easy-to-use format. The change would begin in the fourth quarter of 2012.
"We are committed to serving the greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky communities -- and providing consumers with the best news and information anywhere, anytime. We are also committed to listening to our customers and responding to their ever changing needs. As a result of research we've done and the feedback we've received from readers and advertisers, we have signed a letter of intent with the Columbus Dispatch to print the Enquirer in a new compact format that would be brighter, more engaging and easier to read," said Margaret Buchanan, president and publisher of Cincinnati Enquirer.
"While covering the same amount of news as the previous format, this new approach would enhance the user experience by allowing for a fuller use of color and photographs and improved readability. By better serving our readers, we would continue to provide advertisers a trusted environment with which to engage their consumers."
Dimensions of the newly formatted Enquirer would be 10 ½ inches by 14 ½ inches and all of the current content in the Enquirer would remain in the redesigned newspaper, if the agreement is finalized. In addition, the Enquirer's production facility would close fourth quarter, 2012.
In related news, Pressline Services, Inc. and the Columbus Dispatch have signed a letter of intent for a project to produce a new compact format for the Dispatch newspapers based on a new press system called 3V(R) developed by Pressline Services.
Related: In April 2009, trade site News & Tech reported the following: "The Cincinnati Enquirer is considering whether or not to dramatically shorten its cutoff to approximately 15 inches and further narrow its web width in a bid to save on consumables."
Gannett today announced that it has signed a letter of intent with The Columbus Dispatch for the possible printing of The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Kentucky Enquirer in a new, more compact, easy-to-use format. The change would begin in the fourth quarter of 2012.
"We are committed to serving the greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky communities -- and providing consumers with the best news and information anywhere, anytime. We are also committed to listening to our customers and responding to their ever changing needs. As a result of research we've done and the feedback we've received from readers and advertisers, we have signed a letter of intent with the Columbus Dispatch to print the Enquirer in a new compact format that would be brighter, more engaging and easier to read," said Margaret Buchanan, president and publisher of Cincinnati Enquirer.
"While covering the same amount of news as the previous format, this new approach would enhance the user experience by allowing for a fuller use of color and photographs and improved readability. By better serving our readers, we would continue to provide advertisers a trusted environment with which to engage their consumers."
Dimensions of the newly formatted Enquirer would be 10 ½ inches by 14 ½ inches and all of the current content in the Enquirer would remain in the redesigned newspaper, if the agreement is finalized. In addition, the Enquirer's production facility would close fourth quarter, 2012.
In related news, Pressline Services, Inc. and the Columbus Dispatch have signed a letter of intent for a project to produce a new compact format for the Dispatch newspapers based on a new press system called 3V(R) developed by Pressline Services.
Related: In April 2009, trade site News & Tech reported the following: "The Cincinnati Enquirer is considering whether or not to dramatically shorten its cutoff to approximately 15 inches and further narrow its web width in a bid to save on consumables."
Easier to read? WTF?! Because it'll be lighter and run shorter stories?
ReplyDeleteEvery time we've gone down in web size on the press, there's certainly less to read. That's a no-brainer.
Sorry for the press crew that will lose their jobs, too.
Is this new format a Berliner, like what they have in Shreveport?
ReplyDeleteTwo of Gannett's papers are produced in smaller, Berliner formats.
ReplyDeleteHere's the front page of today's Times at Shreveport, La.
And here's the Journal & Courier in Lafayette, Ind.
At neither of the papers mentioned did similar statements about the format change reign true: "all of the current content in the Enquirer would remain in the redesigned newspaper."
ReplyDeleteWould like to hear from any newspaper that has gone through the change, holding onto just as much newshole. Who know what the 2012 world will hold. They wouldn't promise that with ongoing staff cuts looming and such a long time frame.
How have the papers mentioned fared. Did the changes give them a brief or extended reprieve? Truth is, we need the expense savings and the new format means less newsprint = smaller ads and less newshole.
From the Wikipedia entry about the Dispatch:
ReplyDelete"The Dispatch and the various WBNS stations (WBNS (AM), WBNS-FM, and WBNS-TV) as part of the Dispatch Broadcast Group are privately owned by the Wolfe family."
I wonder if this has anything to do with the post yesterday about the Indy Star printing an Indiana state-wide edition? What better place than Central Ohio for the printing hub of Ohio.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of a paper format this small.
ReplyDeleteThe new dimension would be 10 ½ inches by 14 ½ inches. Compare that to a standard size sheet of paper, which is 8 ½ by 11 inches. Or legal size, at 8 8 ½ by 14 inches.
I believe that is the Berliner-size paper, at least in some minds. (Though one internet source lists 18.5" × 12.4" as Berliner dimensions, versus the size quoted above of 14.5" X 10.5".) Having seen the Shreveport version, the real jolt is with inside pages. A deft designer can make A1 look inviting, or at least coherent. But go inside and things fall apart quickly with ads, jumps and short inside items. So sad that a once great paper like the Enquirer is being chopped up and tossed away.
ReplyDeleteAdd yet another plant closure and more job losses to Buchanan’s Cincinnati tenure…and that doesn’t include Central Ohio shut downs.
ReplyDeleteFour years ago, she shut a weekly print facility in Cincinnati to move printing of what was then, 27 weekly newspapers, to Lafayette Indiana to utilize their new Berliner presses.
She fired many people during that move as well as ate a lot of unforeseen costs because of an un-severable agreement with a power provider and her inability to sell that facility as quickly as planned let alone even near the price she sought. Since then, she’s spent heavily to modify Western Ave’s plant in order to produce smaller and smaller versions of the Enquirer only to do this.
Moves like this don’t speak very well about Gannett's leadership or the future it really sees in print.
The Columbus Dispatch's Blog about the agreement
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/inside-story/2011/08/new-deal-with-cincy.html
... as of Aug. 1 ....
ReplyDeleteMonroe's News-Start is in Berliner format as well
Can't find the post 5:43 mentioned about Indy Star printing a statewide edition... what was the rumor about this?
ReplyDeleteBuchanan lies both by commission and omission. First she says the Enquirer will provide customers with the "best news and information anywhere, anytime." That is the most outrageous statement she had made to date. Essentially she's saying that the Enquirer is better than the New York Times, the Washington Post and every other news source that puts the Enquirer to shame every day. Second, she lies by conveniently failing to provide that "best news and information" as to the number and fate of its unionized press workers. This move by Gannett is a whale of a slap in the face to unions in Cincinnati. It's also a slap in the face to the chamber of commerce and business community, outsourcing its printing like this.
ReplyDeleteHard to beleive, but the Enquirer actually posted this news on its website.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.cincinnati.com/comments/article/20110816/BIZ/108170325/Enquirer-parent-signs-printing-letter-intent-Dispatch
Could it be that they've finally recognized how ridiculous they look and the message it sends when they get beat on news they should own. Doubtful.
Wonder what this is going to do to deadlines in Cincy? And maybe even for the Dispatch (unless they're adding equipment, which i can't imagine is the case)?
ReplyDelete8:22 here. I stand corrected, Dispatch is adding/upgrading equipment. Wonder how much of that tab GCI is picking up?
ReplyDeleteStill don't see how you can have the same amount of content with less physical space unless you just scaled everything down and everyone knows print readers (trending older) actually require larger font.
And how far is Columbus from Cincinnati? This is going to kill their sports coverage (especially of baseball) in print. And Ohio winter weather gets shitty fast as you go north.
ReplyDeleteNews & Tech has additional details about Pressline's service here: http://www.newsandtech.com/dateline/article_37a8937c-c856-11e0-abff-001cc4c03286.html
ReplyDeleteThink of the compact format as being approximately two-thirds the height of a typical broadsheet. A Berliner is about 18 inches tall, so the compact format is shorter. But the advantage is that a newspaper does not have to purchase a new press to produce this type of format. To do a Berliner requires a press with a cutoff of 18 inches. Pressline retools the press' folders and other components to produce the new size, and the format supports sectioning, unlike a tab....
Why not print in Indianapolis, which is only 6 more miles farther away than Columbus?
ReplyDeleteOr Louisville, which is actually closer. Losing two hours to trucking the papers back seems another way to kill circulation
ReplyDeleteThe only real thing to consider is the massive cost savings involved: the presses and Western Ave. facility were built 35 years ago to accommodate the JOA between The Enquirer and The Cincinnati Post. The presses are underused, wearing out, in constant need of repair, and create a shitty-looking paper. It'll be cheaper to do this than get new presses - which they'd probably never get an ROI on - and build a modern up-to-date facility.
ReplyDeleteFrom a business standpoint it makes a whole lot of sense. There's not much you can't do today, thanks to wide-area networking.
From a personal standpoint, Mr. Whig is rolling in his grave.
Among the things you can't do today:
ReplyDelete1.Guarantee that there will never be a power failure in Columbus
2. Guarantee that that there will never be a late-nite snow or ice storm
3. Guarantee that "wide-area networking" will never fail. Oh, no... that NEVER happens!
4. Guarantee that election night results will NEVER run late nor will the NCAA final game EVER go into overtime...
Oh no, those things never happen...
Sounds like the subscribers in Cincy are in for some late papers... or really, no papers at all.
Considering the close proximity of Indy, Louisville, Cincinnati and all their related products, including USAT, it’s hard to believe that a case couldn’t be made to build a centralized facility 10:02 PM.
ReplyDeleteAnd while it’s true the demise of the Post’s small daily left a void, the acquisition of 27 weekly newspapers (their weekly press runs of nearly 250,000 copies at that time beat what the Post needed each week) certainly provided it with ample opportunity to fill it.
What's more than likely is this: Gannett didn’t even seriously consider it all as they’ve long expressed an interest in exiting the printing business; an interest that’s only grown in recent years given this company’s declining revenues and its need for cash to pay down debts and buy more of its own stock.
Hey 7:43
ReplyDelete"It is my understanding that The larger metro's like the Indy Star will print state wide editions, allowing Gannett to close more printing plants and thus more layoffs. Has anyone herd this, it can be done very easy, and with little effort
8/15/2011 8:53 AM"
It got buried under the chatter of the stupid copy editor vs. reporter debate that ate up about 70 posts.
To you copy editing nerds: Nothing was changed in the above selection. All 'metro's' and 'herd' references were kept as originally intended.
Covering the Northern Kentucky community - hah, hah. In less than a year the Enquirer has gone from having two sports pages a day (M-F) dedicated to their Kentucky readers (preps, local colleges, University of Kentucky and Louisville, the latter two through coverage by the Courier-Journal)to having two days a week (Tuesday and Thursday) to now having none, just ocassional flops with Ohio. By the end of next year with likely deadline nightmares due to where paper is printed (KY deadlines used to be the latest) there will be likely little if any "community" coverage of that area. What a joke.
ReplyDeleteThe other side of the story: Buchanan told her staff recently that 20% of Enquirer revenue is coming from digital and she wants that to increase to 50% in a couple years. Turning the printed Enquirer into a little more than a newsletter is just another step on the path to abandoning the print product completely.
ReplyDeleteIndy prints USA Today, it would be a stretch to print the Enquirer.
ReplyDeleteLouisville prints all of the Lexington, KY Herald Leader except 2 sections. That press is likely full too.
I don't see how a non Gannett paper can print and send 100,000+ copies on Sunday in a timely fashion to Cincinnati on top of their own product.
So Buchanan is planning to edit and produce the Enquirer at the Gannett hub in Louisville and then print it in Columbus and then drive the papers 90 miles back to Cincinnati for delivery. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteAlso: Does this mean that the Enquirer will use a different format than the other papers produced in Louisville? And they will incorporate the USAToday produced national/international news pages? Yeah, that should work out really well ...
Buchanan’s propensity to omit key pieces suggests anything she says be taken with a great deal of skepticism 9:00 A.M. and there are a wealth of Buchananism’s to prove it.
ReplyDeleteThe following example easily suggests why: If digital revenues remained flat (or barely growing) while print and subscription revenues continued their declines, then digital’s share of Enquirer’s revenue would automatically go up. That hardly defines success. Assigning an increasing portion of revenues to digital in print/digital ad bundles is another way to make that percentage rise and there's already a history of it.
Frankly, the larger question all should be asking here is this: Of all the current U.S. publishers, which ones have lead the greatest declines in revenues and profits since they’ve arrived? And why are they still here, especially those with highly questionable “people skills” as Buchanan's alone have cost this operation much?
OK. The newspaper will be designed 90 miles from downtown Cincinnati. It will be printed 115 miles from downtown Cincinnati. Even with printing now only a couple of miles from downtown office, a light snow flurry pushes deadlines up an hour. What are the deadlines going to be when this format goes into effect? Noon? What's that going to do to the Reds' coverage, particularly central and pacific time zones? Readers will be pissed when they get their Tuesday night box scores on Thursday morning. Maybe, that's Buchanan's goal, drive everyone to the web and away from print. It'll happen pretty friggin' quick starting in January 2013
ReplyDeleteRE: "all of the current content in the Enquirer would remain in the redesigned newspaper."
ReplyDeleteall of nuttin' is still nuttin'
9:46 a.m. two-day late box scores already appear in Wisconsin papers, especially with the Brewers' games out west. I don't think readers here expect to get news on a timely basis anymore, or they know where else to get them.
ReplyDeleteThe claim that all of the content in the Enquirer would remain in the redesigned paper is dubious. Just imagine how many times a big story would have to jump inside that small a paper - four, five, six times? More? And imagine how many readers will give up after the first jump. What will happen is that editors will demand that stories get much shorter. That fundamentally diminishes the paper's content and its ability to report on a large, complex topic. The readers will be the ultimate losers here.
ReplyDeleteDear folks: most European papers are printed in a similar formar –even smaller– and they do great journalism. It's not the format, but the content. Obvious but worth a reminder.
ReplyDelete...and European newspapers adopted page 3 girls long ago. So, when will Gannett be adopting that as the enhanced audience traffic those features generate has been more than tested via MetroMix.com.
ReplyDelete9:06 asks a good question - how does this new format fit with the design centers? I thought the idea was to standardize templates as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteWhy not print in Indianapolis, which is only 6 more miles farther away than Columbus?
ReplyDeleteBecause Gannett owns newspapers around Columbus, Newark, Lancaster, Mansfield, etc. Bet they are also part of the deal. Or, maybe the Wolfes are positioning to dump the Dispatch on Gannett? Maybe trade the paper for a TV station?
Sounds like the subscribers in Cincy are in for some late papers... or really, no papers at all.
ReplyDeleteYou do realize that the northern suburbs of Cinci are just over an hour from the Columbus printing plant on Georgesville Rd., do you not?
You do realize that the southern suburbs of Cincinnati are over two hours from the Columbus printing plant, given good traffic conditions, do you not?
ReplyDeleteYou do realize that the southern suburbs of Cincinnati are over two hours from the Columbus printing plant, given good traffic conditions, do you not?
ReplyDeleteAnd you can't truck the papers to a northern drop-off point (distribution center) and redistribute from there? It is said that the Columbus Dispatch currently has part of its paper printed in Dayton. No problems with delivery I know of.
Hey TP @ 1:40: could you please curb your use of logic and reason? You get in the way of the irrationality of this place. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteEven if the papers are dropped off at the closest distribution center, it's still going to take time to offload, then reload other trucks to take them to the rest of the drop sites.
ReplyDeleteThe Columbus Dispatch is going to be printing a combined total of over 400,000 daily papers and over 600,000 Sunday papers. That's a hell of a lot of printing on any given day!
Good luck making it through a press run without some kind of delay!
Even if the papers are dropped off at the closest distribution center, it's still going to take time to offload, then reload other trucks to take them to the rest of the drop sites.
ReplyDeleteBut isn't there a bigger picture here? This is just a wild guess, but what about the smaller papers Gannett owns in Mansfield, Zanesville, Lancaster, Newark, Chillicothe, Coshochton, Marion, Fremont, Bucyrus, Port Clinton, etc. (most within 30 minutes to an hour of Columbus). Are they also going to be printed by the Dispatch? If you look at it in this context, adding the Enquirer to the mix makes a lot of sense. Or maybe the deal was, if you make it worth our while with the Enquirer, we'll do the smaller papers for you too?
Nothing was announced so this is a wild guess.
When this new format takes effect, will it be able to hold the weekly magazine, comics and advertising inserts that are now stuffed inside the Sunday newspaper?
ReplyDelete