Newspapers
Chicago Trib goes tab at newsstands
By Heidi Dawley
Jan 14, 2009 - 1:05:00 AM

With the newspaper industry under heavy pressure, the Chicago Tribune is hoping a bold move will help see it through the tough times.

Starting Monday the paper will be published in a tabloid edition as well as its traditional broadsheet version on weekdays.

While home delivery customers will continue to receive the broadsheet, people who buy the paper from a newsstand will get the tabloid. The new version will contain the same editorial content as the broadsheet.

The change comes just months after a much-criticized redesign reduced the number of news pages in the Tribune. Tribune Co., the paper’s cash-strapped owner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in December, and executives have said the move to the tabloid will be cost-neutral.

The hope is that the tabloid will be more appealing to readers on the move with a more easily digestible format. That could help boost the Tribune’s long-lagging newsstand sales.

At least one U.S. paper, Harrisburg’s Patriot-News, tried a similar simultaneous format a few years back, but the move lasted a mere six months.

Converting to a tabloid format was all the rage among European broadsheets a few years back.

The Times of London also introduced the tabloid alongside its broadsheet edition, as the Tribune will. It was, however, for a trial period only. Ultimately, the Times phased out its broadsheet edition.