Tuesday, September 30, 2008

New Tribune design brings yawns

The Chicago Tribune redesigned its paper yesterday, and it brought about as much excitement as another Oakland Raiders coaching change.

According to ChicagoBusiness.com, 72 percent of those polled by the site did not like the new look of the Tribune, while 81 percent said the new redesign made it no easier to find stories. (The comments section of the linked story have been mostly negative.) 60 percent of the respondents think the new design would actually make them cancel their subscriptions.

The new version of the paper is thinner and uses bigger photos on the front page and combines several sections into one. For example, you can find the Editorial pages and the Obituaries in the Business section.

The moves are being made to cut costs as the newspaper industry is being battered by declining ad revenue and circulation, as more and more readers are getting their news via the Internet.

Yours truly actually thought the redesign was pretty good, which now has more color illustrations and photos than the old version of the paper. But the elimination of pages and some sections (namely "Tempo") leaves little to be desired. And a story in Live! on Jerry Springer's talk show (which despite ultra-low ratings, somehow manages to stay on the air?) Come on Trib, this isn't 1998 - but at least it isn't another Oprah article...

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