Editing Newsprint (section)

==Use==
The web of paper is placed on the printer, in the form of a roll of paper, from a [[paper mill]] (surplus newsprint can also be cut into individual sheets by a processor for use in a variety of other applications such as wrapping or commercial printing). World demand of newsprint in 2006 totaled about 37.2 million metric tonnes, according to the Montreal-based Pulp & Paper Products Council (PPPC). This was about 1.6% less than in 2000. Between 2000 and 2006, the biggest changes were in [[Asia]]—which saw newsprint demand grow by about 20%—and [[North America]], where demand fell by about 25%. Demand in [[People's Republic of China|China]] virtually doubled during the period, to about 3.2 million metric tonnes.

About 35% of global newsprint usage in 2006 was in Asia, with approximately 26% being in North America and about 25% in Western Europe. Latin America and Eastern Europe each represented about 5% of world demand in 2006, according to PPPC, with smaller shares going to Oceania and Africa.

Among the biggest factors depressing demand for newsprint in North America have been the decline in newspaper readership among many sectors of the population—particularly young adults—along with increasing competition for advertising business from the [[Internet]] and other media. According to the [[Newspaper Association of America]], a United States newspaper trade group, average U.S. daily circulation in 2006 on a typical weekday was 52.3 million (53.2 million on Sundays), compared with 62.5 million in 1986 (58.9 million on Sundays) and 57.0 million in 1996 (60.8 million on Sundays). According to NAA, daily ad revenues (not adjusted for inflation) reached their all-time peak in 2000, and by 2007 had fallen by 13%. Newsprint demand has also been affected by attempts on the part of newspaper publishers to reduce marginal printing costs through various conservation measures intended to cut newsprint usage.

While demand has been trending down in North America in recent years, the rapid economic expansion of such Asian countries as China and India greatly benefited the print newspaper, and thus their newsprint suppliers. According to the World Association of Newspapers, in 2007 Asia was the home to 74 of the world's 100 highest-circulation dailies. With millions of Chinese and Indians entering the ranks of those with disposable income, newspapers have gained readers along with other news media.

Newsprint is used worldwide in the printing of newspapers, flyers, and other printed material intended for mass distribution. In the U.S., about 80% of all newsprint that is consumed is purchased by daily newspaper publishers, according to PPPC. Dailies use a large majority of total demand in most other regions as well.{{cn|date=November 2022}} Newsprint is also used for cheap books, such as the Dutch [[Bulkboek]]en, affordable reprints of literary classics published from the 1970s on.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/dela012alge01_01/dela012alge01_01_00295.php |accessdate=28 November 2022 |language=nl |publisher=[[Digital Library for Dutch Literature]] |title=bulkboek }}</ref>

Typically in North America, newsprint is purchased by a daily newspaper publisher and is shipped from the mill to the publisher's pressroom or pressrooms, where it is used to print the main body of the newspaper (called the run-of-press, or ROP, sections). The daily newspaper publisher may also be hired by outside companies such as advertisers or publishers of weekly newspapers or other daily newspapers to produce printed products for those companies using its presses. In such cases the press owner might also purchase newsprint from the mill for such contract printing jobs.

For the roughly 20% of demand which is not purchased by a daily newspaper, common end uses include the printing of weekly newspapers, advertising flyers and other printed products, generally by a commercial printer, a company whose business consists largely of printing products for other companies using its presses. In such a case, the newsprint may be purchased by the printer on behalf of an advertiser or a weekly newspaper publisher, or it may be purchased by the client and then ordered to be shipped to the printer's location.

===Economic issues===
The biggest inputs to the newsprint manufacturing process are energy, fiber, and labor. Mill operating margins have been significantly affected in the 2006–2008 time-frame by rising energy costs. Many mills' fiber costs have also been affected during the U.S. housing market slowdown of 2007–8 by the shutdown of many sawmills, particularly in Canada, since the virgin fiber used by mills generally comes from nearby sawmills in the form of wood chips produced as a residual product of the saw milling process.

===Distribution===
Another consideration in the newsprint business is delivery, which is affected by energy cost trends. Newsprint around the world may be delivered by rail or truck; or by barge, container or break-bulk shipment if a water delivery is appropriate. (Aside from delivery cost, another consideration in selecting freight mode may be the potential for avoiding damage to the product.) All things being equal, for domestic shipments in areas like North America or Europe where modern road and rail networks are readily available, trucks can be more economical than rail for short-haul deliveries (a day or less from the mill), while rail may be more economical for longer shipments. The cost-competitiveness of each freight mode for a specific mill's business may depend on local infrastructure issues, as well as the degree of truck-vs-freight competition in the mill's region. The appropriate freight mode for delivery from a mill to a specific pressroom can also depend on the press room ability to accept enough trucks or rail cars.

===Web (width) downsizing===
A newspaper roll's width is called its web width and is defined by how many front pages it can print. A full roll prints four front pages with four back pages behind it (two front and back on each of the two sections). Modern printing facilities most efficiently print newspapers in multiples of eight pages on a full newsprint roll in two sections of four pages each. The two sections are then cut in half.

Faced with dwindling revenue from competition with broadcast, cable, and internet outlets, U.S. newspapers in the 21st century—particularly [[broadsheet]]s—have begun to reduce the width of their newsprint rolls, and hence of the newspapers, across the business.

''[[The Boston Globe]]'' and ''[[USA Today]]'' shifted to a {{convert|50|inch|cm|adj=on}} web in 2000.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/04/business/usa-today-trims-width-and-tones-down-design.html | title=USA Today Trims Width And Tones Down Design | work=New York Times | date=April 4, 2000 | accessdate=January 16, 2024 | author=Carvajal, Doreen}}</ref>

''[[The Guardian]]'' adopted a smaller "Berliner" format in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1560525,00.html |title=New-look Guardian launches on September 12 |work=MediaGuardian |date=1 September 2005 |last1=Cozens |first1=Claire |location=London |publisher=Guardian News and Media}}</ref>

A {{convert|48|inch|cm|adj=on}} web with {{convert|12|inch|cm|adj=on}} page widths was adopted by ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' starting on January 2, 2007.<ref>{{cite news |first=Katharine Q. |last=Seelye |title=In Tough Times, a Redesigned Journal |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/business/media/04journal.html |date=2006-12-04 |access-date=2013-03-20}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]''  followed suit on August 6, 2007.<ref>{{cite press release |title=The New York Times Plans to Consolidate New York Print Run at Newest Facility in College Point, Queens and Sublease Older Edison, New Jersey, Printing Plant in Early 2008 |publisher=The New York Times Company |url=http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=105317&p=irol-pressArticle&ID=883079 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130413172019/http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=105317&p=irol-pressArticle&ID=883079 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-04-13 |date=2006-07-18 |access-date=2013-03-20 }}</ref>

In 2009, ''[[The Seattle Times]]'' moved from {{convert|50|inch|cm|adj=on}} web to a {{convert|46|inch|cm|adj=on}} web, producing an {{convert|11+1/2|inch|cm|adj=on}} page width.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.newsandtech.com/issues/2008/February/nt/02-08_seattle-newsize.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108070826/http://www.newsandtech.com/issues/2008/February/nt/02-08_seattle-newsize.htm | url-status=usurped | archive-date=January 8, 2009 | title=Seattle Times making move to 46-inch web | work=newsandtech.com | accessdate=January 16, 2024}}</ref>