The Hamilton Spectator had a article from the Editor saying they would be getting an overhaul too. Maybe it's all Torstar papers.

Looks like USA Today.

paterson1 wrote:

turkeytop wrote:

Looks like USA Today.

Huh? It looks nothing like USA Today..

I haven't seen the real paper. Just the pictures.

Call me old fashioned, but in my opinion, newspapers lost their gravitas when they started using coloured photos. A real newspaper should be black and white.

When the Globe & Mail first went to colour, there was such an outcry from their readers, they backed off and went back to black and white. A few years later they came out with a whole new makeover, including coloured photos. The Globe just doesn't seem as serious anymore.
 

Tomas Barlow wrote:

What an odd opinion.  Why would intentionally using out of date technology make a newspaper seem more serious?  That makes no sense to me.

As I said, I'm old fashioned. I listen to real radio, not online streaming. I prefer classical music to hip-hop My phone is on the kitchen wall. I don't use self checkout. I eat real food, not something squeezed from a tube.

Maybe I'm a luddite.

The KW Record has a refresh today as well.  More pronounced headlines, different font and pictures, especially sports larger.  Looks pretty good.

turkeytop wrote:

Media Observer wrote:

Damn "Talkies"...they will never replace Silent movies!
 

I don't go to the movies.

My late grandmother was a strict Baptist. She was absolutely against smoking, drinking, dancing, playing cards, movies and TV.

I always say that if it wasn't for my fondness for beer, I'd have made a good Baptist, because I don't do any of those other things anyway.
 

I meant it as a joke...no offence (or judgement) intended.
 

Last edited by Media Observer (November 17, 2021 5:37 pm)

Don't think it will save the newspaper industry.

AMFM wrote:

Don't think it will save the newspaper industry.

I'm afraid you might be right. The industry was struggling before covid. The dry up of revenue during the lockdowns was a fatal blow for some papers.

In normal times we spend our winters in Florida.. We haven't been back there since March 2020. When we are there, our paper is the Tampa Bay Times, Their competitor, the Tampa Tribune, went belly up about five years ago.

The Times was always a seven day a week paper. Last year they went from seven days per week down to two days per week. The days they don't publish it's available online. My wife reads it online but I don't. I only read a real paper.
To be fair to the Star, I bought today's edition. I have to admit, it still looks respectable, at least by today's standards
To their credit, they are still printed real newsprint paper. The Globe uses some kind of smooth, shiny paper
 

Last edited by turkeytop (November 17, 2021 9:42 pm)

But a newspaper is more than news. There's analysis, opinion and features. Even the ads. You wrap the newspaper around yourself and enjoy the experience for whatever time it takes to get through it. 

It's my favourite Sunday morning pastime. It takes about two hours. 

My late uncle, Frank Tesky, was a photographer with the Star for a number of years during the 50s, 60s and 70s. When I was a kid, his camera seemed about the size of a toaster.

Uncle Frank died about forty years ago but, even today, his old photos appear in the Star once in a while. They always give him credit for the photo.

turkeytop wrote:

Looks like USA Today.

Here's what you just said:



Looks just like:    





 

Looking at the two front pages, there really isn't any similarity.  The Star's design has more white space, more headlines and larger photos.  USA Today, more graphics, much tighter and compact, and more of a commuter paper, dense information look on the front page. I don't  know if USA Today is even widely available in Canada any longer.  Haven't seen it sold anywhere in about 20 years, other than a few large smoke shops that have papers from around the world. 

I wouldn't have called the Star's makeover major.  It was more of a refresh of the paper.  Realigning the pages makes them cleaner and easier to scan for the reader.  More white space around headlines to help  them stand out more.  I am sure advertisers will also like the new design, with less clutter on the pages, the ads stick out more.  Having worked for a few different newspaper chains, Torstar was the best at good relationships with advertisers.  They still stressed relationship selling when other media had abandoned this to a large extent.  Although with COVID and the down advertising market, I am sure relationship selling is making a come back.

Papers often do a refresh like this about every 7-10 years.  Our Waterloo Region Record and The Hamilton Spectator went through a similar change this week.   Overall looks good to me, also indicates that the print product is going to be around for a few more years.  

Thanks fybush, I didn't realize that the other front page for USA Today was not the current format.  Like I said, I don't see it for sale anywhere here.   To me it looks good and clean and yes, the Star is more similar to what USA Today is doing now.  But the two papers again have more differences than similarities at least on the front.  It is odd that the headlines of the above Star front page have a blue screen behind them.   On the printed version there is no blue screen behind the headlines. 

Overall I like the front of USA Today, but as you say it is not the design that made the paper popular.  Does it still sell well in the US?  Wasn't it the most read paper at one point?

Last edited by paterson1 (November 19, 2021 2:57 pm)

The only time I ever read USA Today, is the complimentary copy they give out when staying at a hotel. It makes better reading in the room at night than does the Gideon Bible.