CHICAGO — The nation’s latest newspaper war
recently broke out in Chicago with the prize being readership from the elusive
18- to 34-year old, MTV-watching market. On Oct. 29, both the Chicago Tribune
and the Chicago Sun-Times launched splashy four-color tabloid newspapers loaded
with numerous pictures, graphics and nontraditional newspaper copy.
The Tribune’s RedEye, and Sun-Times Red Streak,
launched with similar titles, tabloid formats and a newsstand price of 25 cents
each.
Mark Kipnis, of Sun-Times owner
Hollinger’s corporate office,
poses with the Sun-Times Red Streak.
Photo by Mary L. Van Meter
Paul Lynch, director, quality
commercial
printing for the Chicago Tribune,
holds the inaugural copy of RedEye.
Photo by Mary L. Van Meter
“RedEye does sell for a quarter, although during the launch period we are
aggressively sampling the edition, particularly at key locations,” Becky
Brubaker, production director at the Tribune stated. “As acceptance and
awareness grow, plans are to move to a paid circulation model. Our long-term
goal is to build paid readership.”
Brubaker explained that the Tribune is always
looking for new ways to better serve its readers.
“The
development of RedEye is an outgrowth of our focus on continuous improvement and
offering more choices for consumers, recognizing that when it comes to the news,
one size no longer fits all,” she said. “This September, for example, we
launched the new Q section in the Sunday edition of the paper. An eclectic
lifestyle section, Q is also aimed at a younger audience. We began work
specifically on RedEye this summer.”
Brubaker said that more than half of the young
adults in the Chicago area already read the Tribune at least once a week. RedEye,
she said, gives the Tribune the opportunity to increase the frequency with which
they pick up an edition of the newspaper.
The newspaper already experienced success
targeting the young audience through metromix.com, a Tribune-operated source of
entertainment and dining listings. Content from metromix is printed in RedEye,
including a 20-page metromix pullout on Wednesdays. There are about 30 members
of the RedEye staff, including editorial, sales, marketing and circulation.
Management at the Sun-Times stated that they began planning Red Streak in early
October in order to respond to the launch of RedEye. The Red Streak pulled
several staffers from the Sun-Times’ sister newspapers in the suburbs and is
using several staffers from the Sun-Times, including sports columnist Jay
Mariotti.
RedEye production
RedEye images are sent to a desktop hot folder
where image files are automatically edited and converted to CMYK color or black.
Its Autologic (an Agfa Co.) Intellitune script saves labor and time by
automatically batch processing all page images through a preset color conversion
script, Brubaker said.
The newspaper rolled out Intellitune 2.0 in the
editorial photo lab about one year ago as an option photo editors could use when
they wanted mechanical color conversion. The scripting software lets photo
editors handle images that often require excessive editing time to prepare for
optimum newsprint.
The Tribune prefers using Intellitune instead of
editing photos in Photoshop when the staff wants to quickly sharpen certain
elements and remove non-image artifacts. The application also lets Tribune
editors enhance a photo’s tonal areas when they want photos with improved
saturation to give readers a greater perception of color depth.
Both RedEye and Red Streak will be printed
Monday-Friday with an average folio of 40 pages and an average press run of
around 125,000 to 130,000 copies.
Management of both publications said they plan to
stay in the fight for this market segment.
For more information on RedEye or Red Streak,
visit Chicago Tribune RedEye at www.redeyechicago.com
or Chicago Sun-Times Red Streak at www.chicagoredstreak.com.