House of Zell to Debut New Tribloid

Just days after crowing about the changes and reorganizations of the Chicago Tribune, they're throwing all that in the dustbin and doing everything they can to emulate a paper that's dying even faster than they are. As of Monday morning, a reconfigured Tribune will be appearing in newsstands and newspaper boxes in a tabloid style paper for commuters and non-subscribers. Subscribers will still continue to recieve the full broadsheet paper.

Rumors of the impending Tribloid* have been circulating for years, but no one really thought it would come right after spending so much time redesigning the entire paper. Can it really be cost effective to put out two different versions of the same paper? Is it worth the time, effort and expense to reconstitute just the news and business section, when the feature sections will still be in broadsheet form, as Phil Rosenthal's Tower Ticker explains? Someone certainly must think so.

In a memo to Tribune staff, publisher Tony Hunter wrote,

The tabloid edition continues the spirit of "It's a Whole New Day." The new edition of the Chicago Tribune reinforces the fundamental shift in the way we serve consumers and advertisers--listening to their feedback and implementing innovative solutions. This is just one of our company's aggressive steps to solidify our position as Chicagoland's #1 source of news and information. We've said standing still is not a good strategy, so it won't end here.

Now, how much would you expect to pay for this new, smaller-yet-still-with-the-same-editorial-content paper? 25 cents? 30 cents? Even a full 50 cents, perhaps - same as the Sun-Times? No sir, you'll be plugging three full quarters into that slot. After all that research they talked about doing the other day, presumably they've got a lot of numbers on how many people will pick up the Trib now that it's easier to read on the train. Will they find out that people just grab the Sun-Times to save the quarter? Time will tell. If you want to take a look-see for free, the Trib will be giving the new style paper away on Monday.**

Amusingly enough, all this news is juxtaposed with a Col. McCormack Recommends sidebar redirecting people to the AOL/Jay Mariotti column. First they endorse a Democrat for president, then they put a paper hat on a cartoon version of the Colonel. Then they link to a former Sun-Times writer who publicly spat on the face of Chicago's daily print outlets. There's a newspaper scion rotating rapidly in his tomb today. But you can cheer him up by being his Facebook friend. Or follow him on Twitter.

Images from Rosenthal's Tower Ticker blog, and the Tribune website.

*First use? We call dibs on coining the phrase.
**Side bet: How many people will pick up the new Tribloid and immediately look for Bag Boy and the Five on Five feature?