NEW HAVEN, Conn. --Three central Connecticut newspapers will switch to a tabloid format in May as their parent company, Journal Register Co., tries to boost advertising revenue and reverse circulation losses.
The Herald of New Britain, The Bristol Press and The Middletown Press announced the change in Wednesday's newspapers, saying the new editions will be easier to read and more attractive to young readers and families.
Journal Register also owns the New Haven Register and Torrington Register-Citizen, which will not change formats.
Former Register sports editor Matt Pepin has been hired as executive editor of the three newspapers and is overseeing the redesign.
He said the newspapers won't become sensational but will adopt many tabloid staples, such as a dominant front-page photograph, a tighter writing style, more graphics and a breezier feel.
"Newspapers are the original reality shows," Pepin said. "We're going to get back to that and show people that the content we have is very similar to the entertainment they get on TV and in magazines."
New Jersey-based Journal Register reported last month that annual earnings fell 10 percent in 2005. The combined daily circulation of the three newspapers being redesigned has fallen about 15 percent in the past five years, according to the company's annual reports.
Jean B. Clifton, president of Journal Register, said the redesign is not a cost-cutting move. She would not discuss the cost but said the company is purchasing new press equipment.
Marc Romanow, publisher of The Herald and Middletown Press, said the company expects a return on the investment.
"We want to grow circulation and advertising revenue. We want to attract more younger readers and family readers," he said.
Journal Register was encouraged by the success of a similar redesign at the Troy Record in upstate New York, where advertising revenue and circulation increased after converting to tabloid last year, Romanow said.
Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar at The Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism center in St. Petersburg, Fla., said tabloid redesigns often lead to short-term revenue increases because new readers pick up the paper.
"Tabloid has, for many decades, been associated with a certain kind of downscale journalism: sex, sports, celebrity, gossip," Clark said. "We know that it doesn't it have to be that way."
He cited the Christian Science Monitor and Newsday in New York as examples of tabloids that haven't skewed toward the sensational.
The Herald's daily circulation is about 13,500, according to the most recent Audit Bureau of Circulations reports. Bristol's circulation is about 12,100 and Middletown is about 8,300, according to the bureau. The three newspapers share a Sunday edition.
