The New Chicago Tribune: Less News, More Pictures

The Chicago Tribune released a prototype of its new look Monday. The slimmed-down paper is condensed into three sections and emphasizes flashy graphics and pictures.

From Crain's:

The prototypes show a front page with just two or three stories leading into a front section that houses all local, national, foreign and business news. The new three-section format will feature a 50-50 ratio of ads to editorial copy, saving the broadsheet money by necessitating fewer journalists and less newsprint.

Tribune editor Gerould Kern made the rounds of Tribune-owned media to tout the paper's new look. Watch his appearance on WGN:

Comments

[ImJustGeorge]

While I never thought the Tribune was equal to the New York Times or the Washington Post, I did think it to be competent. But Sam Zell has put an end to all of that. More pictures means less content and a smaller staff. More pictures means that advertisements need to be bigger to get attention and hence produce more revenue. Cutting costs and increasing revenue are great ways to save a widget factory but a disaster for a newspaper. Zell has turned the Tribune into a tabloid for people who move their lips when they read.

[drdecipher]

Sunday morning with the Tribune has been a time to relish. Coverage was broad and ranged from information summaries to serious analysis. Not any more. The real problem is, I think, that the Tribune has pitched itself to a market of non-readers. The problem is that those folks probably were not and will not spend Sunday morning reading the newspaper or much else. Reading is not how they get their information. So who wins with this change? Certainly not the serious reader.

[1manisland]

It can't be any worse than the Sun Times really. Over there you get a paragraph of news on a page, the rest of the page is advertisements and garbage. Also - the Tuesday paper at the Times it's as pathetic as the Saturday paper they put out.

[Totto]

No more Berghoff.
No more Field's.
No more Tribune.

[JScott]

And don't get started on what Zell has done to the LA Times.
He'll turn it into the Springfield Shopper or Pennysaver?

[Eric8869]

I hope it's less Right Wing spin and Republican bias. I hope it represents the city it's in for the first time......­.ever.

[Hereslookingatu]

Well, a major change if you believe they've dutifully reported the news over the past few years.