Anyway, it seems to have little to do with saving money, but economic pressures from elsewhere.

Cheers,

-cvj

How much money, in terms of newsprint costs, will the size reduction save for the publishers?

In terms of content, not much to go on so far—but the Behe interview was pretty shocking. Let’s hope it’s not representative of what’s to come!

-cvj

Format is good. Convenient, and much better than the teaser suggested. Nice that they kept the newspapery texture that was so terrifyingly missing from the teaser. But currently, I’m aghast at what they’ve done to the science bit.

“Ideas”? What the hell? An interview (and a pretty soft, uncritical and unconfrontational one) with Michael Behe? (See here…) Has there been a coup?

They’d better have a rebuttal soon, because I am very worried.

I am more upset by the loss of ‘Life’ - the science section. I always look forward to it and every week there’s plenty worth reading in it. Fingers crossed for this every day science page - this could be better or worse. I really want to see more (good) science reporting in the media. And making it an everyday thing might be the way to go….. will Ben Goldacre still have a column? Lets hope so.
K

Neil Mc: I learned that the Berliner format is 9 cm longer and 1 cm wider than a tabloid….. Hmmm. Still not sure about all of this… I’m worried it will all end in tears.

Cheers.

-cvj

Improvements in the way text is displayed, however, might make that habit redundant over time.

-cvj

I don’t advocate changing things because we can, but I do think that this change makes sense. One imagines that if the customers revolt, of course, they’ll reverse the decision.

I read the paper on the London Tube every day for years. I think that one of the rites of passage in making the journey from adolescent to adulthood is the mastery of reading a broadsheet. I remember the thrill of figuring out how to do the appropriate rapid folding tricks in a confined space, sometimes while holding on to something to keep your balance, and managing to read every part of the paper you desired to. It is going to be anther great lost skill, the practice of which gives great pleasure.

I love the little line drawings in the WSJ, Adam (or is the the FT? or both). Imagine how that paper would lose an aspect of its character if they just replaced those with colour photos.

The point is that we should not neccessarily do things (and do away with things) just because we can.

Bingomaster: Sadly, I do not read German. And I’ve nothing against photos; I just don’t care to confuse a newspaper with a photo journal/magazine. The two are different.

Cheers,

-cvj

Broadsheet papers are great when you have the time in the morning to read it on your breakfast table, but try to read one on the London Tube in rush hour. It’s a very difficult feat, one that not many people can master: folding the pages into two as you read them, changing pages when you have people’s faces right next to your elbows are all highly demanding of manual dexterity.

The Indy realised that it could get a large part of the morning market by making their paper smaller and they were right, which is why everyone is following.

If you want a really traditional newspaper, I suggest you try the Zuercher Zeitung or one of the many German-language papers which still refuse to print photographs, because they would impact the quality of the journalism. I say small is beautiful and convenient. And the fact that the British press is going to the dogs, has nothing to do with the size, it’s all to do with giving people what they want to read. And that alas, is a different matter completely.

I’m not so bothered about the size of it, though; the broadsheets are near impossible to read on public transport because of their size, so the question might more be ‘why didn’t they all change size years ago?’

I won’t complain if the WSJ and NYT (the papers I tend to read over here) go to a more sensible size, either.

-cvj

The downsizing of papers is a terrible phenomenon on this side of the pond. It seems like all of the broadsheets in the UK and Ireland have either switched already or are going to switch soon. It’s terrible because one of their more practical uses was to shield one’s face on the tube.

I doubt that the change to Berliner format will be a surprise to anyone who reads the Guardian regularly. The increasing importance of the G2 section and the other supplements over the past few years seems to indicate that this once-great paper has surrendered its claims on journalistic integrity (read clarity) in favour of presenting news in a more condensed format. In fact, the only thing I read the Guardian for these days is their excellent cricket and sports coverage.

(cvj: check your email!)

The broadsheet was a fantastic format for news at a glance, elegant look, and smartly organised content. Now it is gone.

-cvj