The Press newspaper in York has had an “upmarket” redesign, its first since it went tabloid in 2004.
The title will introduce a new version of the York Minster motif that has featured on its masthead for 126 years.
A full-colour, tabloid property section is part of the new ‘brighter, cleaner’look which is partly based on a survey of readers from 2006.
In a statement The Press said: “The new look is more user-friendly and signals an upmarket shift.”
Editor Kevin Booth said: “I have said for a long time that newspapers continually need to evolve if they are to remain relevant in the fast-paced, fiercely-competitive environment of a multi-media world. Without evolution, there is a danger the printed product will get left behind.”
In a full-page article in the paper Booth explained the changes and how the regional newspaper market had shifted away from print-only products.
‘As a regional editor, I am often reminded that we no longer sell the vast number of copies we used to in the halcyon days of the newspaper business,’he said. ‘But we probably reach a wider audience nowadays than any other period in our proud 125-year history of publishing in York.
‘Because we are no longer only a newspaper. These days, we are a provider of local information in an increasing number of ways.”
Booth said his paper’s online audience was growing at a ‘staggering pace’and that its magazine products, Yorkshire Living and Look it Up were both doing well.
He wrote of how publishing strategies ‘that had served us well for decades had gradually become obsolete as 24-hour shopping increased the demand for newspaper availability at a time when it best suited the customer”.
In 2006 the Press made the switch to overnight or morning publishing and removed the ‘Evening’from its title
The Press is celebrating a victory this week for a long-running fundraising campaign as work to build a children’s high-dependency unit got underway in a local hospital.
Over the last two and a half years readers have raised £250,000 for the Guardian Angels Appeal.
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