New press brings changes to Tribune print format

For readers in Mesa, Chandler, Tempe and Apache Junction, the new look of today's A section is the result of a new press and the culmination of a series of changes announced last fall.

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Ripley: Readers react to Trib changes

In October of last year, we converted the front local news sections in editions that reach readers in Gilbert, Scottsdale, Queen Creek and Pinal County to what we call a long tab.

The change in A-section size for the edition that reaches the rest of our readers was put on hold until a new press could be built and installed.

It has now been installed and tested and with today's paper is operational.

To us, getting a new press at our Mesa plant is a big deal. In the current economic climate, not many newspaper companies are making investments of this magnitude in their communities.

"The installation of the new press will allow us to finalize the rollout of the long tab throughout our coverage area. The press will give us the flexibility and opportunity to tailor our local news report to the evolving needs of readers and advertisers," Tribune publisher Julie Moreno said.

Last fall, we also took a major step toward fulfilling our "local news is first" mission by grouping most categories of local news - city, metro, state, business, entertainment, opinions and obituaries - into the newspaper's first section.

We created a separate Nation & World section and moved our comics and fun and features page into our Classifieds section.

Of the changes unveiled last fall, the one that most upset readers was relocating the comics page.

We're changing that today, moving comics and the fun and features page to sports where it will close out the section.

We're also moving local classified advertising into the A section, along with the crossword puzzles that generally run in that section. We think it's a good fit because classified advertising is local information, too.

Unlike our comics page relocation, the earlier change in size of the A section for Gilbert, Queen Creek and Scottsdale readers was generally well-received.

We made the change as part of our business plan. The long-tab size is about 60 percent of the dimensions of the old page size. For us, the smaller size means we can increase our distribution without cutting down more trees and buying more pulp.

News is more efficiently presented and community-focused, and the size is more convenient. You can read it and eat your breakfast cereal at the same time.

In the parts of the East Valley where the long tab has been distributed for the past eight months, the change has been well-received. We hope that's the reaction of readers seeing it for the first time today.

There will be more changes as we continue to create a new kind of local newspaper.

One will occur on Saturday. Our Spiritual Life section will move into the local news section, adding one more component of local East Valley news to the section.

My e-mail address is jripley@evtrib.com. Give the changes a few days, then let me know what you think.

Jim Ripley

Executive Editor