IFRA

With a so-called "Scroll Edition" the Axel Springer publishing corporation conducted a “unique media experiment” on 1 July and published a special edition of Welt Kompakt (the little sister of the German national daily newspaper, Die Welt). The product is unusual in several respects: Firstly, the news stories were not written and compiled by professional newspaper journalists, but by “bloggers, tweeters, etc.”, as indicated in the deck. Secondly, the copy must be turned 90 degrees (back margin up) before it can be read. “Help, we are printing the Internet” is the heading of the editorial. Indeed, the layout does somewhat resemble the screen display of a news website. Turning a page straight away demonstrates what is meant by a scroll edition: The articles are not presented in typical newspaper page layout style, i.e. weighted by their position on the page, the size of headings and text length, but are arranged one below the other in a broad text field covering more than two-thirds of the page area, presented as unformatted solid text in uniform typography, without paragraphs and subheadings though with many photos (in differing quality). The reader almost automatically reaches for the mouse to scroll the text upwards … however, he must still turn over the page, though in this case from bottom to top.
On the right, beside the main text area, are two narrow columns, similar to orientation bars. One of the columns is used for additional information concerning the articles arranged alongside and about their authors, the other for brief items compiled from blog contributions.
Is that “printed Internet”? Whereas that may be true in relation to the contents, it is not so for the actual character of the medium that can be copied in several optical characteristics at most – but no more than that. Each medium has its own special strengths, but also weaknesses. Bringing together the two worlds, Internet and newspaper, therefore always means a compromise. Nevertheless, the project was worthwhile because it gives rise to a mutual interest among the user groups, while at the same time highlighting the benefits of each medium: fast information, reactions and opinions, unfiltered and from all over the world, with the possibility to join in via the Internet. Researched and verified news, comments and articles, written or prepared by journalists, weighted and put on pages in the newspaper. Is that how the newspaper of the future will look? Probably not.
It is neither certain that blogger will (or want to) secure for themselves a fixed place in the printed newspaper, nor that the Internet will continue to be such a paradise for news. A great deal is possible and allowed in the Internet that will remain out of bounds for a print product. In contrast, publishers have the possibility to operate both print and online and thus benefit from synergies.
It is expected that the various types of media – including mobiles and e-readers – will drift apart rather than move closer together. The Internet has topicality and interactivity on its side. The newspapers has other qualities that it can and should turn to its advantage (e.g. credibility and competence at regional level). It is not the mixed medium, but the media mix, i.e. mutual supplementation, that gives the added value.
It would be worthwhile to test the innovative format with the vertical two-page spreads, as this could benefit travellers and commuters on public transport by enabling them to open out the print newspaper without disturbing the person sitting next to them.

Mit einer sogenannten „Scroll-Edition“ hat Axel Springer am 1. Juli ein „einmaliges

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 „ mehr Infos über das Projekt Welt Kompakt Scroll-Edition

Dr Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann, former longstanding president of KBA, died on 23 July at the age of 84. With him the KBA group and its employees have lost a popular and highly respected senior executive and the German engineering industry an innovator and internationally esteemed representative.

• KBA press release

29 June 2010. All is going according to plan. Following the roofing ceremony on 18 March 2010, installation of the production systems at the new Druckzentrum Rhein-Main printing centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany, is proceeding apace. A 40 t crane was installed to bring the components of the printing press into position. The crane will be removed when the work is completed. The Wifag is scheduled to be fully assembled by the end of July. Also being installed are the finishing systems in the 140 m-long and d 45 m-wide hall that is attached to the presshall that, despite its size and due to enormous steel girders, manages without disturbing supporting struts. The two chief executive officers, Ulrike Köhler and Michael Rettich, state that the project is running on time; production is scheduled to begin in November. The printing centre is a joint project of Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main (Mainz) and Verlagshaus Südhessen (Darmstadt).

• Link to article and video on the website of the Wiesbadener Kurier

Visit the blog of the Printing Summit in Salzburg, a new WAN-IFRA event where printers and publishers generate ideas and tactics to lead the newspaper printing industry into a successful future.

Druckzentrum Rhein-Main (DRM) in Rüsselsheim, Germany, has reached the halfway point of construction and celebrated on 18th March 2010 with a roof-raising ceremony.

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Semi-commercial jobs which would normally require heatset printing are being produced in coldset at the Singapore Press Holding (SPH) Media Centre Plant on their manroland UNISET press using various types of newsprint. "We have done posters, leaflets, newsletters & magazines. Our customers include banks, retail outlets, government bodies, hospitals, associations, etc.," says Anthony Cheng, Executive Vice-President of Production at SPH. "The financial crisis actually brought about opportunities in that companies that are used to glossy heatset promotional materials are driven to look at alternatives because of budget constraints, and have begun to accept coldset newsprint stock (of higher grammage 70-95 gsm and wood-free or hybrid grade that are much brighter in shade) as an viable alternative, achieving more or less the same marketing objectives. This has brought about an unexpected but much welcome revenue stream to us,” he said. Cheng’s team has also broke new grounds by successfully printing on translucent newsprint with coldset printing process and normal coldset inks.

To cut costs and to save money in the process of newspaper production throughout the value chain – from editorial to advertising, to administration, production, sales and distribution – is an issue for newspaper executives all over the world. We asked representatives of WAN-IFRA committees and expert groups to let us know which cost reduction projects they run today or plan to start in the near future and what effects they had or expect from these measures.

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If you would like to contribute to this collection of cost reduction ideas, please send your comments to editor@wan-ifra.org with the subject: cost reduction. Thank you.

The Colour Quality Self-Check is an online tool that is accessible free of charge to anybody. It allows you to check your colour print quality by printing the IFRA test element and input the measured values into an online form. The immediate results of an automatic evaluation will show you, were your quality stands. If you want IFRA to do the measurements, use the Color Quality IFRA Check model.

• www.ifra.com/qualitycheck

Visit the blog to get impressions of the WAN-IFRA Study Tour covering four cities in three days, visiting five printing plants and a paper mill.

 "New Printing Plants" is the title of a new WAN-IFRA Special Report. It originates from a project that was managed by a German-Indian research group with researchers from the Technical University of Chemnitz and the University of Manipal. The IFRA South Asian Committee steered the project. Although the starting point was clearly focused on the Indian market, the guidelines and detailed checklists provided are, without any doubt, of high value for newspaper companies all over the world that are about to start projects to build new printing plants.

The 64-pages report is already online in English; German and French versions will folllow: free download for WAN/IFRA members from

• www.ifra.com/specialreports