Noticing a change in your width? So are we!

Notice anything different about your newspaper this week?

This issue of the Mirror-Reporter is the first to be printed on a 22-inch page.

Mid-America Publishing, owner of the Mirror-Reporter, has slimmed the size of its 22 newspapers from their current 25-inches to 22 as both a cost saving and environmental benefit.  The thinner pages will have immediate benefits for Mid-America Publishing’s bottom line, allowing the company to reduce the overall amount of paper they consume on a weekly basis. Using slimmer sheets of paper also means using fewer resources to print on them, reducing the overall amount of metal used to create the plates that print each page of every newspaper.

The new 22-inch width will also open up new advertising opportunities for the company. As major newspapers across the country have transitioned to the thinner pages over the years, national advertising standards have adjusted with them. Printing at the new industry standard will allow Mid-America Publishing to sell advertisements that previously wouldn’t be available.

For the readers themselves, the new width should make the newspaper a little easier to handle in both physical and digital formats. For those that read the newspaper on a digital device, the thinner width should improve readability as the full width of the paper will fit more easily on a screen.

“We feel that the paper will be easier to hold when reading and better lend itself to half-folding for readers,” said Mid-America Publishing’s CEO Matt Grohe.  “We hope everyone enjoys the new format and we appreciate the support of our readership as we adapt and change.”