The editors at the Chicago Tribune aren’t saying they got it wrong.
Instead, they’re saying the newspaper is responding to annoyed readers by tweaking a dramatic redesign rolled out just three months ago.
The Tribune included a wraparound in its front news section Thursday to announce changes brought on by responses to the new format, which increased white space in the paper and made photographs more prominent.
Readers objected to an increase in advertisements, a perceived decrease in the number of stories, and the elimination of a separate business section. They felt the new design was “too loud” and confusing, and that stories shouldn’t jump to other sections.
“We hate it too,” the newspaper responded. “And we’ve stopped doing it.”
Editor Gerould W. Kern wrote that the newspaper would bring back the business section, improve indexes and roll out four new local sections called “Chicagoland Extras.” The Tribune is toning down its bolder fonts but remains adamant about placing an emphasis on photographs.
The redesign reassessment comes nearly a month after the Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
“I think it’s a good idea to respond [to readers],” said longtime media critic Michael Miner of the Chicago Reader. “[But] there’s something disingenuous about it. They’re trying to describe a retreat as progress.”
Tribune spokesman Michael Dizon declined to comment. But in an e-mail posted on the media blog edited by Jim Romenesko at The Poynter Institute, Kern said the wraparound was “part of an ongoing conversation with readers,” not an apology for the new design, which was rolled out Sept. 29.
“We lost relatively few subscribers as a result of the changes,” he wrote.
