Reader panel gives tweaks a thumbs-up

The pages are a little narrower. We’re doing it to save money. The Reader Panel loved it.

That’s how TNT Reader Panel member Jocko Burks advised me to explain to readers the changes we’re rolling out with Monday’s paper.

“Three sentences,” he said. “That’s all they need.”

I’ll offer a few more than three sentences, but I agree with Jocko that the changes we’re about to make aren’t substantial.

Starting Monday, your News Tribune will be an inch slimmer.

Our folks are working today to reconfigure the TNT presses to run narrower rolls of paper. Our pages will go from 12 inches wide to 11 inches wide, bringing us into alignment with the new industry standard. The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and dozens of other metropolitan newspapers already print pages of that width. Our page length will not change.

The other papers – and we – are making the change mainly to reduce paper consumption, and thus save money. Newsprint is our second-highest expense behind people, and the cost of paper is on the rise.

National advertisers also have adopted the 11-inch format. That makes it doubly important we keep up so our page size isn’t an impediment to selling ads.

You’ll notice a few other cosmetic changes in tomorrow’s paper. We’ll use new headline fonts with narrower letters so we can still get as many words on a line. We’ll also use smaller page headers at the top of our South Sound, Sports and other sections to save as much room as possible for stories.

Our Classifieds section will change from a 10-column format to a six-column format. As you might imagine, making those already-narrow columns any narrower would have made them difficult to read. The wider columns are easier on the eye.

Just as important, here’s what we’re not changing:

 • The story type – or body copy, as we call it – will be the same font and the same size it is today. We do not want to interfere with your readability.

 • The sections will stay in the same places.

 • The rail of brief items along the left side of the front page will still be there to guide you to news inside the paper, on the website or coming in the future.

 • You’ll find the same number of stories on the front page, still with a local focus.

Each change in the paper presents the newsroom with an opportunity to shake things up and bring you something brand new. Frankly, we think we’ve put you through enough changes in the past two years with the consolidation of sections and changes in features.

Readers I talk to and those who call our reader representative for the most part say they’ve had enough change. We are changing only what we must Monday to accommodate the narrower page.

Actually, we’re making one other change that readers have demanded since January when we swapped the placement of our two crossword puzzles. Before the change, we ran a United Features crossword on our pull-out Take Time page and an L.A. Times crossword in our Classifieds section. In January, we switched them as part of a shift that also moved our TV grid and other features.

When we first met with our Reader Panel in March, panelist Jen Hermann championed the cause of readers who were insisting we put the United Features puzzle back on the Take Time page. She came bearing a newspaper page she had cut and pasted back together showing us exactly what she wanted.

Thanks to Jen and the others, both puzzles will appear on Take Time beginning Monday. It made sense to put puzzles on the heavier pullout page that’s easier to write on and easier to take to work and do at lunchtime. We’ll also put the horoscope back on that page. To make room, we’re moving the TV grid into the Classifieds section.

The Reader Panel at our sneak peek unveiling Wednesday night said they liked the new look. Almost to a person, they were glad the changes were minor. They found the narrower paper easier to handle, which has been a common reaction among readers at other papers.

We hope you approve, and as always we are happy to hear your thoughts. Feel free to contact me using the information below or the reader representative at reader.representative@thenewstribune.com.

Karen Peterson: 253-597-8434

karen.peterson@thenewstribune.com