Friday, August 10, 2007

Shrunken Giant

Picked up the New York Times this week? Not the cyberspace version, but the actual, old-fashioned newspaper? Did it feel funny? Something vaguely different? That's right, it's smaller. The New York Times is smaller. They shrank the newspaper.

I suppose it shouldn't really make any difference. What matters most is what's in the newspaper. The format will change from time to time. I quickly got used to the big change from 8-column format to 6-column years ago. It was a good when they added color. So change is good.

But it is still a little unsettling when one of one's daily icons, one of the anchors of one's life, just feels funny when you pick it up. The editorial page looks off balance. The whole thing doesn't sit right in the hands somehow.

We're all getting older. The Times is feeling the pinch. They'll apparently save $10 million annually with this format. Time marches on. The Times marches on. Soon we won't even notice. But for this week, at least, I'll remember the old format with fondness.

1 comment:

emfink said...

I like the new format, and wish they'd done it years ago when I still lived in NY. It must make it a bit easier to read the Times on the subway.