New Experiments in Newspaper-Making

Report Outline
New Newspapers with New Methods
Investment, Circulation, and Advertising
New Departures in Treatment of News
Effects of Changes in Newspaper Field

New Newspapers with New Methods

Use of Offset Printing by Hartford Daily

The First newspaper in a major American city to be produced by the offset process of photo-lithography is the Hartford (Conn.) Newsdaily, Vol. 1, No. 1 of which appeared on March 4, 1940. The Newsdaily is tabloid size, 16 pages, and is printed on a web, reel-fed, perfecting offset press especially designed for newspaper use. The attention of newspaper publishers throughout the country has been drawn to the Hartford experiment, and it is being watched with great interest, for there has been wide discussion in recent years of the possibility of reducing printing costs if a satisfactory method of using offset, in place of relief or “letter-press” printing, can be developed.

The Hartford Newsdaily has made some departures from conventional methods of treating news and editorial matter, but these are not primarily due to the mechanical equipment used. Much the same kind of newspaper could be produced by relief printing. Manufacturers of the Webendorfer press used in the Hartford plant are aiding the experiment financially and are giving assistance in coping with such technical problems as have arisen. Bice Clemow, publisher of the Newsdaily, told the American Newspaper Publishers Association at New York, April 23, that his costs were 25 per cent below those of a tabloid produced by conventional methods, and that a standard-size daily of eight or 16 pages could be turned out by offset with comparable savings.

New Adless Newspaper for New York City

It is probable that much greater attention will be drawn to PM, an afternoon newspaper to be produced in New York City, starting June 6, 1940. The prospectus of PM calls for editions of 32 pages, printed on a superior grade of calendered newsprint paper. The page size is approximately 11½ by 15½ inches. The pages will be bound together by wire saddle-stitching. Conventional newspaper printing methods will be used, except that special heating devices and ink fountains have been applied to standard rotary presses to permit the use of “cold-set” ink. This ink is said to be smear-proof and to be superior for printing half-tone engravings and type-matter. PM's plans also call for unusual uses of color—especially in unusual shades and hues.