June 2 |
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Paper's Printed Replicas Ship Out
Source: Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Democrat-Gazette Available Globally
Beginning today, travelers can purchase complete printed replicas of each day's Arkansas Democrat-Gazetteat selected hotels and cruise ships around the world, electronically transmitted on the date of publication.
The service is available through a company called NewspaperDirect.
"I really think that ... our subscribers will probably take advantage of it, as well as just people that are curious about a newspaper from Arkansas," said Larry Graham, circulation director at the Democrat-Gazette.
A reproduction comes printed in a format of 11 inches by 17 inches, slightly smaller than a standard broadsheet newspaper. It includes the entire contents of the newspaper, from the front section to the classified section.
Richard K. Miller, NewspaperDirect's vice president for sales and marketing, said laserprinting and high-speed Internet data-transmission technology make it easy to download an entire newspaper and print it cheaply in a large format anywhere in the world. He said the more than 170 newspapers that have signed distribution agreements with the company since it was founded four years ago are located in more than 40 countries.
Graham said travelers will be impressed "that they'll get the exact daily newspaper" printed in the same format it was in Arkansas.
"When I travel, I read the USA Todayor the local paper but it never quite gives me everything that I need," he said. "I sort of miss what's going on back home."
The cost for a reproduction of the paper is $4 at some locations but could vary at others. Graham said the service will complement the Democrat-Gazette's Web site, www.ardemgaz.com
He also said it is prestigious to be on the list of newspapers offered by NewspaperDirect, which includes the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
The Democrat-Gazettewill receive a portion of the money from the paper's sales, Graham said.
Stan Schwartz, managing editor of Publishers' Auxiliary, an industry trade publication based in Missouri, said the service could be appealing to some people although he didn't know all of the details. He said travelers on a cruise ship or in a hotel might enjoy the chance to read a newspaper the way they would at home.
The NewspaperDirect service is available in about 60 countries and can be found in nearly all of the 130 worldwide InterContinental Hotels and at selected others such as the Bellagio and Venetian hotels in Las Vegas. Qatar Airlines as well as some cruise-ship lines and urban bookstores also offer it.
John Morton, president of Morton Research Inc. in Maryland, said "it's not clear yet how significant" the service is going to be. But Morton, whose firm does media consulting, said it is good for newspapers to have the capability of global distribution.
Information for this article was contributed by Edward Klump of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Joe Sharkey of The New York Times.
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