Rotary telephones, floppy disks, CDs and cassette tapes, pagers, VHS, typewriters — the listing goes on. These are all examples of out of date applied sciences which have since been phased out as new applied sciences emerge within the digital age. Some have been repurposed, whereas others have pale into oblivion. The newspaper and printing industries are not any strangers to such diversifications — for instance, the printing press.
In line with author Dave Roos, who wrote concerning the evolution of the printing press for Historical past.com, Johannes Gutenberg is credited because the inventor of the printing press. However a model of it existed in China about 150 years earlier than. A associated Historical past.com article references Wang Chen, who created a model of woodblock printing just like the printing press in 1297. The expertise didn’t emerge in Europe till Gutenberg’s steel model appeared in 1440.
Gutenberg used what is called duplicate casting, which concerned utilizing a steel mildew to create letters utilizing lead. He additionally made his personal ink, which was designed to stick to steel as a substitute of wooden.
The printing press shortly unfold throughout Europe and North America, profoundly altering how folks talk. Earlier than the invention of the printing press, literacy and training have been solely accessible to the rich and elite. As print grew to become extra accessible, so did information.
Though printing press expertise has developed, particularly prior to now 25 years, some say it’s shifting towards the ever-growing listing of out of date applied sciences. As information media shops have more and more gone digital, pressrooms have gone quiet. As that actual property turns into an overhead anchor on the now-digital publications, dilemmas abound about what to do with the pressroom gear and what the longer term holds for print publications.
Dave Gilmore, vice chairman of gross sales for imPRESSions Worldwide, provided a novel perception right into a print section of the trade that he says continues to expertise progress, regardless of the transition to on-line media. imPRESSions provides each new and used newspaper and business presses to the broader print trade.
“As imPRESSions enters our twenty ninth yr in enterprise, the change we see all through our trade is extra about how newspapers report the information and their capacity to draw readers and advertisers. From our view, native, personal and engaged newspaper possession continues to develop on this digital age. These visionaries are attaching their enterprise to single broad presses,” mentioned Gilmore.
A kind of visionaries is John Garrett, CEO of Neighborhood Impression Newspaper Firm. Neighborhood Impression opened a brand new printing facility again in 2016. “From my view, the longer term is single-wide presses and newspapers that stay related of their hometown communities. Hyperlocal, related information reporting nonetheless attracts readership, which in flip, attracts in advertisers,” Gilmore mentioned.
What occurs to the older double-wide presses if the single-wide press is the printing trade’s future? In line with Gilmore, the reply is straightforward: They’re recycled, offered for elements or scrapped.
“Nonetheless, we hold busy offering a protected {and professional} removing of enormous double-wide presses for scrap. Typically, we promote sure belongings to offset the prices of removing. With Metros rolling again deadlines to the afternoon of the day earlier than the publication date, this has allowed including many extra each day publications to regional double-wide print amenities. These websites are usually geared up with late-model European presses for which the OEMs and third-party auxiliary distributors are eager to supply clever upgrades,” Gilmore mentioned.
“Small- to medium-sized single-wide press publications have lengthy understood you’ll want to hold the presses rolling at evening and all through the day. Older legacy double-wide presses aren’t greatest suited to brief run non-daily half- and quarter-fold print manufacturing,” Gilmore said.
Regardless of what many consider about printing, it isn’t a dying apply. The printing trade continues to expertise progress in different areas, equivalent to promoting. The International Industrial Printing Market is projected to be value $484.22 billion by 2027, a virtually 12% enhance from 2021.
“In America, 25,000 corporations are specialists in business printing. It generates roughly $900 billion in income yearly,” in line with Vice President of Gross sales Pratik Mistry, with Radix, who wrote about “The Way forward for Print Business in 2023 and Past.”
Though the printing trade as an entire has been experiencing progress, newspaper pressrooms are shuttering or consolidating at accelerating charges. For instance, the Los Angeles Instances will shut down its downtown Los Angeles printing facility in 2024.
Different information companies are investing in print. In line with Gilmore, imPRESSions Worldwide is presently within the course of of putting in a used GOSS Magnum SSC Press for a information pressroom in Charleston, South Carolina.
“Single-wide press with extra or all shade pages, a Jaw folder with quarter folding, and high quality automation completely addresses the following chapter for newspapers,” he concluded.
Kirsten Staples is a contributing author for Editor & Writer. She could be reached at [email protected].