Torn pages and tight creases have been on the minds of some readers recently. Strictly speaking, the readers' representative's office of The Irish Times deals with issues arising from the editorial content of the newspaper, but, as one reader pointed out politely, it is difficult to engage with the subject matter of an article if you can't actually read it. So I made inquiries on behalf of those who contacted us about their inability to read the "ripping stories", as another reader put it.
Several times recently, Derek McCullagh, our production director, thought that this intermittent problem had been solved - only to find, a week or so later, that his optimism had been misplaced and some copies were again being affected.
In truth, the fault lies with the present printing press, which was not designed to handle the large newspapers we are printing nowadays. It was not that no one foresaw larger papers but rather that, when we bought the press 15 years ago, the restricted space in D'Olier Street dictated the size of the machinery. Thus, it was always a compromise, and everyone knew it would have to be replaced sooner or later.
Happily, I can report from Seamus McCague, technology director, that we are at an advanced stage in that replacement. Very shortly, he tells me, a state-of-the-art, German-manufactured MAN Roland GeoMAN press will be operating on an eight-acre site at Citywest, off the Naas dual carriageway.
This, together with top-of-the-range mailroom machinery, which will make huge improvements in inserting supplements and wrapping, will allow even bigger newspapers and supplements, with full colour available on every page. The start-up is eagerly awaited, but the production team is insisting that every conceivable test be carried out beforehand.
While all this is going on at Citywest, the rest of the team continues to struggle valiantly to maintain as high a quality as possible in the transition period.
Speaking of technology improvements, how many readers have noticed the change in the look of the editorial pages?
Some may have noticed something but haven't been sure what, although a few of the more eagle-eyed may have realised what those changes have been.
The fact is we have almost completed a radical change in the editorial production of the newspaper that has resulted in the new-look Irish Times. The instruction from Conor Brady, the editor, was to do it gradually so readers would not be discommoded. I think it is safe to say that, apart from occasional lapses when a few articles and letters were published more than once and a couple of readers suspected something was going on, the changeover has been relatively seamless.
The project has been under way for the past year and phasing-in began in May. By the end of this month, every page will be produced on the new editorial system, Hermes. Unlike the old Atex system, Hermes allows journalists to design and lay out all editorial pages. In the past, sub-editors drew a page plan and gave it to the compositors. The editorial text was then output and, following the plan, was cut and pasted down on to broadsheet-sized paper. No matter how skilful the compositor or sub-editor, this manual cutting and pasting meant lines of type could vary across a page.
Now pages are composed on screen, so presentation is standardised. For instance, line 56 in column one will be at exactly the same level as line 56 in column eight.
Part of the new look also involved a change in the size of type. Nine has become an important figure in The Irish Times. The height of each line is nine points (a point being a unit of print measurement). Hitherto, point size was eight, then 81/2. All headlines are now in multiples of nine, e.g., 27, 45, 72 point, as is everything else on the page, including pictures.
The production of pictures has also undergone radical change in the past couple of years. Previously, the photographer shot on film. Rolls of negatives were then developed, captions written and pictures chosen. These were given to departments who sized them according to the requirements of the page and they were then sent to the engraving department where they were rephotographed in the new sizes.
Now there is no film, only a digital memory card in the camera. This card, about the size of an old negative, can store up to several hundred high-quality images. The photographer loads his or her card into a laptop computer and selects and sends the best images (with captions) immediately to the picture desk via a phone line and a modem.
Thus images are transmitted in minutes from anywhere in the world where there is a reliable telephone system, be it Tipperary or Tierra del Fuego.
A far cry from the old days, when photographers had to travel to a processing centre or even back to the office, have the film developed, select the pictures, submit them to the pictures editor, who only then could make his choices and release them for use to the departments.
With Hermes, Peter Thursfield, our pictures editor, can now see the photographer's image instantly on his screen and in the proportions necessary for the pages. He can then make his choice according to requirements. For instance, a picture might look great across eight columns but not so good if there are only three columns available.
George Eastman, with his box camera in 1888, cannot have foreseen the development of the instantly-transmittable digital image in today's newspaper offices.
Likewise, when Johannes Gutenberg completed his printing press in 1440 to produce black-and-white religious pamphlets, he could not have envisaged the new printroom at Citywest, which will produce 75,000 papers per hour with full colour available on up to 64 pages - all crisply printed and neatly folded, naturally.
Readers may contact the readers' representative's office by e-mail at readersrep@irish-times.ie or by telephone: 01 6758000, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Outside these times, they may contact the duty editor.