Article Clipping, "Daily ends 65 years as a tabloid but keeps local focus," The Minnesota Daily, February 13, 2004
Dublin Core
Title
Article Clipping, "Daily ends 65 years as a tabloid but keeps local focus," The Minnesota Daily, February 13, 2004
Description
Image of a clipping of an article edited from digitized versions of pages from the February 13, 2004 issue of The Minnesota Daily student newspaper (1, 17). The image is a composite of two (2) "clippings" as the text of the article is printed on two (2) separate pages in two (2) separate columns in the original layout of the pages. The text is as follows:
Daily ends 65 yers as a tabloid but keeps local focus
By the Editors
You hold in your hands the end of an experiment.
On Nov. 1, 1939, The Minnesota Daily published the first of four tabloid demonstration editions and announced an unprecedented plan to ask readers to vote whether the Daily should adopt the new “experimental” size or keep its eight-column, full-broadsheet pages.
Just a few days later in a vote that drew almost five times as many participants as the campus government elections on the same ballot, students approved the change. The last full-broadsheet Daily rolled off the presses Nov. 10, 1939, and the Daily replaced its 16 ¾-inch-wide pages with the 11 ½-inch pages the Daily uses for the last time today.
While the 1939 Daily hailed the tabloid format as “the newspaper of the future,” Basil Waters, then-editor of The Minneapolis Star-Journal, correctly predicted that future newspapers would settle on a page size between tabloid and full 16 ¾-inch broadsheets, and that color would play an increasing role.
“Newspapers have nothing to fear from radio and facsimile competition,” Walters wrote, “if they keep on the alert and up to date.”
During its 65-year reign, the tabloid-sized Daily published stories on some of the most monumental events in modern history. Extra editions focused on former University President Ken Keller’s misuse of University funds, then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Minnesota, the Gophers basketball academic scandal, the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone and other major University events. Meanwhile, the paper reported on almost every major local, state and national event since 1939.
A reader-drive change
As a broadsheet newspaper, the Daily will tell more visual stories with more photos and graphics, giving readers more ways to engage and enjoy the news. A front-page synopsis of the day’s biggest stories will give busy, commuting readers a barebones briefing of the vital information they need to know. The paper will be an easier, faster and more useful read.
To intensify our local news focus, we have added three reporters and an education desk to provide more in-depth coverage of the University.
Readers will also find all the other Daily features they have come to expect: our award-winning local news; a brief review of the day’s most important state, national and international stories; a comprehensive daily Sports section, editorials and opinions, and of course, Network.
Readers also can continue to look forward to an expanded edition of our critically acclaimed Monday Sports section and Thursday’s A&E section.
Augmented Training
The student newspaper will also dramatically augment its ability to train and prepare its advertising and editorial staffers for careers in an industry dominated by broadsheets newspapers.
Finally, the newspaper will save money be eliminating some costs associated with adding separate sections, and it will gain flexibility in adding and reducing pages.
Although the Daily’s size will change, its spirit will remain enterprising, reader-driven and community oriented, as it has for the last 100-plus years. We are dedicated to covering life at this University proud of our status as Minnesota’s only independent daily newspaper and committed to earning your readership with every edition.
Daily ends 65 yers as a tabloid but keeps local focus
By the Editors
You hold in your hands the end of an experiment.
On Nov. 1, 1939, The Minnesota Daily published the first of four tabloid demonstration editions and announced an unprecedented plan to ask readers to vote whether the Daily should adopt the new “experimental” size or keep its eight-column, full-broadsheet pages.
Just a few days later in a vote that drew almost five times as many participants as the campus government elections on the same ballot, students approved the change. The last full-broadsheet Daily rolled off the presses Nov. 10, 1939, and the Daily replaced its 16 ¾-inch-wide pages with the 11 ½-inch pages the Daily uses for the last time today.
While the 1939 Daily hailed the tabloid format as “the newspaper of the future,” Basil Waters, then-editor of The Minneapolis Star-Journal, correctly predicted that future newspapers would settle on a page size between tabloid and full 16 ¾-inch broadsheets, and that color would play an increasing role.
“Newspapers have nothing to fear from radio and facsimile competition,” Walters wrote, “if they keep on the alert and up to date.”
During its 65-year reign, the tabloid-sized Daily published stories on some of the most monumental events in modern history. Extra editions focused on former University President Ken Keller’s misuse of University funds, then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Minnesota, the Gophers basketball academic scandal, the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone and other major University events. Meanwhile, the paper reported on almost every major local, state and national event since 1939.
A reader-drive change
As a broadsheet newspaper, the Daily will tell more visual stories with more photos and graphics, giving readers more ways to engage and enjoy the news. A front-page synopsis of the day’s biggest stories will give busy, commuting readers a barebones briefing of the vital information they need to know. The paper will be an easier, faster and more useful read.
To intensify our local news focus, we have added three reporters and an education desk to provide more in-depth coverage of the University.
Readers will also find all the other Daily features they have come to expect: our award-winning local news; a brief review of the day’s most important state, national and international stories; a comprehensive daily Sports section, editorials and opinions, and of course, Network.
Readers also can continue to look forward to an expanded edition of our critically acclaimed Monday Sports section and Thursday’s A&E section.
Augmented Training
The student newspaper will also dramatically augment its ability to train and prepare its advertising and editorial staffers for careers in an industry dominated by broadsheets newspapers.
Finally, the newspaper will save money be eliminating some costs associated with adding separate sections, and it will gain flexibility in adding and reducing pages.
Although the Daily’s size will change, its spirit will remain enterprising, reader-driven and community oriented, as it has for the last 100-plus years. We are dedicated to covering life at this University proud of our status as Minnesota’s only independent daily newspaper and committed to earning your readership with every edition.
Creator
The Minnesota Daily (MN Daily Media)
Source
Digital: The Minnesota Daily: February 13, 2004 (University Digital Conservancy)
Publisher
University of Minnesota Archives; The Minnesota Daily (MN Daily Media)
Date
February 13, 2004
Rights
Use of this resource is governed by U.S. and international copyright laws. Resource is property of the University of Minnesota. Please contact the University of Minnesota Archives for permission to publish. http://special.lib.umn.edu/uarchives
Format
Image
Language
English
Identifier
BTP_MNDaily_2004-02-12_DailyEndsTabloid_CombinedClipping.jpeg
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Newspaper
Collection
Citation
The Minnesota Daily (MN Daily Media), “Article Clipping, "Daily ends 65 years as a tabloid but keeps local focus," The Minnesota Daily, February 13, 2004,” Gallery, accessed November 7, 2026, https://gallery.lib.umn.edu/items/show/6963.