Wisconsin State Journal Retools

Better?

The Wisconsin State Journal published a redesigned and narrower newspaper Monday with a themed features section intended to attract younger readers, and a front page setting for stories its editor says will be more “muscular” and have “sharper edges” to its enterprise reporting.

Ellen Foley, editor of the 87,000-circulation Madison daily, said “amazingly,” the reaction to the extensive redesign was generally positive. The biggest complaint revolves around the need, because of the narrower web width, to shave space from the syndicated Cryptoquote puzzle. Readers said there’s not enough space to write the decoded letters, she said.

“So it goes to show you: we journalists work so very hard on the dense work of reporting and watchdog writing and all that other fun stuff—and it’s the Cryptoquote you get all the phone calls on,” Foley said with a laugh.

The narrower 48-inch web width was necessitated by the Chicago Tribune’s decision to narrow its pages. The State Journal prints Tribune copies distributed in Wisconsin.

1. So it goes to show you: we journalists work so very hard on the dense work of reporting and watchdog writing and all that other fun stuff—and it’s the Cryptoquote you get all the phone calls on.

   You mean there’s stuff in newspapers other than Sudoku and Garfield?

   Posted by Dean on January 07, 2008 at 2355 hrs




2. "Narrower” = reduced costs.  Why do they think kids care about narrower newspapers??  I could just hear the brain trust at WSJ:

   “These kids today with their rock and roll music, and Spyro-graphs, and W-I-Is, they just love narrow newspapers!”

   The fact is, print media is going down the tubes and this, just like the Janesville Gazette, is their response to cut costs.

   Posted by on January 08, 2008 at 1019 hrs




3. Print is dead, get over it.

   Posted by on January 08, 2008 at 1033 hrs




4. mpbygchy cwpqlwhy http://smkhwpbg.com ykcnpkuc dudkngjm eqgupabv

   Posted by ejvnqylk on April 26, 2008 at 2003 hrs