Printing, Sales and Newspapers

Newspapers have a rich history in the United States and all over the world.  Specifically in the United States, they provide information to the public about events and politics with a protection from government interference.  It is a huge responsibility and there are those who would say one side - conservative or liberal are not being given enough importance.

Regardless of your perspective about the content, the production of a newspaper is, as a former boss portrayed it - "a daily miracle".  What other industry takes the majority of their content from the public, organizes it, designs it neatly, produces 30,000 or more copies and delivers it to homes within 24 hours? 

You could say that radio, TV or the internet provide some of that content, but it isn't delivered to the place you live in tangible form like a newspaper is.  It is a huge production undertaking and one missed deadline in any department jeopardizes on time home delivery - and it happens every day of the week in some cases.

Many homes have a scrapbook where they cut out articles or photos of family members and keep it for years...can your ipad do that?

My role with newspapers began after working in printing for a few years.  I was hired to work with the print shop of my home town newspaper selling and managing the printing.  Over time I also began to fill that role for the newspaper side of the business as well.

I learned a lot about printing, meeting deadlines and selling.

Probably the most important aspect I learned about is relationships.  Terry Block used to stop by my office every week on Friday to shoot the breeze and see if we needed any of the supplies he sold.  It wasn't a high pressure sales visit, it was a friend coming to see if I was stocked up for the next week of business.  He had my business - I didn't buy anything from anyone else unless Terry's price was way too high or he didn't offer the item I needed.

Terry took care of me and I took care of Terry.

Who has your back?  Is there someone who prints for you now that "has your back" and looks out for your best interests?  (Keeping you making money, keeps them making money by the way) 

Look for a supplier that is on your team, cares about your product and goes the "extra mile" to help you when you are in a pinch, those relationships are mutually beneficial and they last!

Printing: The Offset Process

I think most people understand that you can't mix oil and water.  They are kind of like magnetic poles that repel each other.

These fundamental physical characteristics provide the basis for offset printing.



Plate and Blanket with Cyan ink

The ink which is made up of an oil based pigment - typically soy oil now days - is transferred from an ink fountain on to rollers that spread the ink evenly across a metal plate.  The plate has areas where the ink tries to stick - the image, and areas where water washes the ink away.  The remaining ink is transferred through a rubberized blanket to the paper.  On a newspaper press this happens very quickly - approximately 13 impressions every second for our press. 

Sometimes the ink overpowers the water and you see the result on a printed page.  It can appear as smudges around the edge of the paper, or a shading of the background - we call this scumming, or tinting.  If the water overpowers the ink, the ink appears light and "washed out" or disappears all together.  The paper can even stretch and develop wrinkles and other problems.

Ink and water balance is a huge part of high quality printing.  You must find that sweet spot where the ink and water, though fighting each other, work together to create a clean, vibrant image.

If you are printing black and white - this happens once on the sheet of paper.  When you print in full color, you now have Cyan ink and water balance to control, Magenta, Yellow and Black - all at the same time.  Not only do you need to control the ink and water balance on all four, but now you need to make all four of these colors line up on the page - called registration.  If a photo looks like a person has a second set of eyes, or you can see one of these colors "hanging out" of the photo frame, then the printing is said to be "out of register".

You can probably imagine how difficult it is to balance ink and water for four colors while simultaneously making sure the four colors line up precisely all while printing 13 copies per second!

Newspaper printing presses also use very thin paper.  Have you ever taken a magic marker and held it to a piece of toilet paper?  The ink spot continues to grow while you hold it on there.  What happens when toilet paper gets wet?  It loses its shape.  Those same things also happen to a lesser degree with newsprint.  The first time newsprint comes in contact with water it gets a little less stable and stretches.  That means the first ink you put on the paper actually grows slightly before the next ink is put on.  Fan out is the term we use to describe this process and there are methods to help control it, but thin newsprint compounds the complexity of printing four colors at the same time and balancing your ink and water.

Fan out, registration and ink and water balance is a problem for all presses and papers, not just a newspaper press. 

The next time you see a full color printed piece, now you'll understand a little more how much skill it requires to make it look that good.