The Times (UK) goes tabloid

flogen

The Times in England is set to print in tabloid only format from this monday after a trial run in which both broadsheet and tabloid forms were printed:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3966681.stm

The Times newspaper will be printed in tabloid form only from Monday after more than 200 years as a broadsheet, it has been announced.

The decision to scrap its broadsheet edition was made after a successful trial run of the tabloid version.

Times editor Robert Thomson said: "The launch of the compact has transformed the fortunes of the newspaper."

Since publishing a broadsheet and tabloid version, sales of the paper have gone up by 4.5%.

Looks like another effect of the Murdochisation of the media, I wonder if we should expect the same from the Indo in the coming months.

flogen

DMC

Heh, can't really blame Murdoch on this one, as it was Sir AJF O'Reilly and The Independent (London) that trailblazed the printed media last year by going tabloid or "compact".

Yes, Murdoch has had his eye on shrinking The Times since he got hold of it, but going it alone was too much of a gamble, even for him. It took The Indy to do it, and off he goes. And it looks like even sales here in Ireland have taken off since The Times went tabloid only here a few weeks ago.

Personally, I like it.

Now I wish that Guardian would go to the Berliner size ASAP...

flogen

DMC wrote:

Heh, can't really blame Murdoch on this one, as it was Sir AJF O'Reilly and The Independent (London) that trailblazed the printed media last year by going tabloid or "compact".

Yes, Murdoch has had his eye on shrinking The Times since he got hold of it, but going it alone was too much of a gamble, even for him. It took The Indy to do it, and off he goes. And it looks like even sales here in Ireland have taken off since The Times went tabloid only here a few weeks ago.

Personally, I like it.

Now I wish that Guardian would go to the Berliner size ASAP...

The Times? The Irish Times?

True, it was O Reilly who made the first move but as you said Murdoch didn't need to be told twice, he was itching for it. And now we can watch the quality of the paper slip more and more as time goes on. The Indo in the UK is a horrible paper IMO... I'm going mainly on layout, but most of the front page stuff is opinion, editorial or feature... always annoys me that!

flogen

mike65

I'm all for daily editions being tabloid er compact. But I like a big spead of Sunday Papers on the kitchen table!

Mike.

DMC

flogen wrote:

The Times? The Irish Times?

True, it was O Reilly who made the first move but as you said Murdoch didn't need to be told twice, he was itching for it. And now we can watch the quality of the paper slip more and more as time goes on. The Indo in the UK is a horrible paper IMO... I'm going mainly on layout, but most of the front page stuff is opinion, editorial or feature... always annoys me that!

flogen

I'm only mentioning The Times here, flogen, nothing to do with the Irish print media or D'oiler St.
On September 17th last, News International decided that The Times would get rid of the broadsheet edition in Ireland, Scotland and the west of England. It has been a success, sales are up big time.

I dont think its readers will let the editorial line slip one bit. If it does, sales will go down, and I dont think Murdoch will want that. Murdoch wont want another Sun.

Of course it will have to be seen what will happen to the readers who like the broadsheet... The Indy is a young-ish paper and didnt have a lot to lose going tabloid, sales were poxy and it was a last ditch effort. Will readers leave "The Thunderer" and go to "The Torygraph"?

Interesting "Times" ahead indeed!

chewy

does the size of a newspaper(or changing it compact:)) affect its relative quality? excluding other factors

i dont think so i love being able to read the paper on a crowded train,

flogen

chewy wrote:

does the size of a newspaper(or changing it compact:)) affect its relative quality? excluding other factors

i dont think so i love being able to read the paper on a crowded train,

Fair point, I don't mean to say that a smaller paper means a lower quality of copy, but it could be the first step towards that. I don't feel the Irish Independent has dropped in quality since it started printing the metro edition, but the Irish Press (while always a politically bias paper) went from broadsheet to rag to bust after it started printing in a tabloid format.

Sadly we in Ireland and the UK have a twisted understanding of what tabloid is, and it's the fault of The Sun, The Star and The Mirror (and The Herald to a slightly lesser extent). We associate the word tabloid with sensational, trashy and bias. In reality it's just a page format. We can always hope that if The Irish Times ever starts a dual-print the rags out there will suffer, I'm sure The Herald at least has lost at the hands of the "Metro" edition Indo, but thats just passing money from one O'Reilly bank account to another.

flogen

chewy

not all broadsheets are broadsheets!

i dunno again everything relative and changing but the indo comes close to being a fully fledge tabloid in disguise ,the sunday is anyway

flogen

I won't deny my liking for the indo, the sunday one is pretty crap, they have some wit-less saps writing go nowhere features all the time, the daily version isn't that tabloid IMO, it can be a bit bias at times but it's not very often and once you pick up on it its not an issue.
It certainly isn't trashy anyway, but it's not really stuck up either.
Put it this way, if it is a tabloid then its the way all tabloids should be ! As i said, tabloid is about format, not content.

flogen

DMC

Really, the difference between the Red-tops (old style tabloids) and Broadsheets that go "compact" is how the headline is presented on Page 1. IMO, The Irish Indo (and The (London) Times) has it right, the headline is slightly smaller on the metro edition than what appears on the broadsheet, but doesnt lose any of its impact.

If anything the one fault I have with the layout of the metro edition, is that it is not faithful to the broadsheet. I know I felt a little disconcerted when the Irish Indo really went with the same layout as the Herald, or any other Red-top. I mean, when you look at the broadsheet, you have page 2; Personals, before half way; comment, half way; business, 2 pages later; Sport; 6 pages later; classified, letters and cartoons, then TV page, Deaths and World news on the back page. The Irish Indo metro edition goes for the standard Herald look, with sport on the back, TV in the middle and deaths and classified after the TV page.

With that in mind, the look of the London Independent has changed and may have lost some of its appeal. It has more comment on page 1 than headline, but that, I feel has more to do with the editorial line it takes, and its needs as a small player to stand out from the others.

flogen

DMC wrote:

Really, the difference between the Red-tops (old style tabloids) and Broadsheets that go "compact" is how the headline is presented on Page 1. IMO, The Irish Indo (and The (London) Times) has it right, the headline is slightly smaller on the metro edition than what appears on the broadsheet, but doesnt lose any of its impact.

If anything the one fault I have with the layout of the metro edition, is that it is not faithful to the broadsheet. I know I felt a little disconcerted when the Irish Indo really went with the same layout as the Herald, or any other Red-top. I mean, when you look at the broadsheet, you have page 2; Personals, before half way; comment, half way; business, 2 pages later; Sport; 6 pages later; classified, letters and cartoons, then TV page, Deaths and World news on the back page. The Irish Indo metro edition goes for the standard Herald look, with sport on the back, TV in the middle and deaths and classified after the TV page.

With that in mind, the look of the London Independent has changed and may have lost some of its appeal. It has more comment on page 1 than headline, but that, I feel has more to do with the editorial line it takes, and its needs as a small player to stand out from the others.

Well there are a few other layout differences between a redtop and a compact broadsheet, but the front page is certainly the most noticable one.

I know what you mean about the content, I suspect sport was made into the paper rather than being seperate so its easier to read, rather than having a load of suppliments. I guess the wheres of the sport and TV listings dont really bother me, I never read them! The first 20 or so pages are the same as the big version, main story, home news, world news, euro news, business, features (or is it features, business?) anyway...

flogen

billy the squid

I would have been more inclined to buy the smaller metro Irish independent, If all they have in the shop is the large Independent I will go for something like the Star. Its easier to read on the bus to work.

Generally I find the photography and the stories more interesting in the Independent, sure I dont agree with the way they idolise Tony O'Reiley whenever he makes the news, but its alot better than the likes of the Sun. Only thing I read in the Sun is Hagar the Horrible. and that is only if someone else brings it into work!

simu

flogen wrote:

Sadly we in Ireland and the UK have a twisted understanding of what tabloid is, and it's the fault of The Sun, The Star and The Mirror (and The Herald to a slightly lesser extent). We associate the word tabloid with sensational, trashy and bias. In reality it's just a page format.
f

This is true. In France, for example, Libé, which is a good quality, left-wing newspaper comes out in this size.

That said, I'd rather not see the Irish Times in tabloid format. I've managed to find a way of turning the pages over without hassle on public transport!

Stark

The metro edition of the Independant is absolutely great. Nothing worse than trying to manouver a broadsheet in a confined space like on a train or a bus. The metro edition is perfect. I'd imagine it's better for the environment too

monument

Is it only me that has noticed the Irish Times is slightly larger in width then most broadsheets? Any one know why?

The paper size I most like is the US broadsheet size, used by the LA Times, and NY Times, at least – the size is just that bit smaller, making it a little more manageable standing up or sitting down on a metro, a bus etc [although I’m thinking about the safe, clean, and often underused, LA Metro (rail/underground/bus network), not Dublin Bus, the Luas, or (god forbid) the tube at rush hour]

chewy wrote:

does the size of a newspaper(or changing it compact:)) affect its relative quality? excluding other factors

Apparently, the answer is yes... an article appeared in the print edition of the Media Guardian months ago and I cant find it online.... anyway, Media Guardian caught the (London) Times tabloid-edition missing parts of some articles, and even missing full articles that were published in the broadsheet edition on the same days MG were spying on the Times.

simu

monument wrote:

The paper size I most like is the US broadsheet size, used by the LA Times, and NY Times, at least – the size is just that bit smaller, making it a little more manageable standing up or sitting down on a metro, a bus etc .

That sounds like the format used by Le Monde - I think the IT could get away with that alright.