The Line Between Newspaper Publishers and Commercial Printers Continues to Blur

Two announcements within the past week demonstrate that some newspaper publishers are increasingly viewing printing as a profit center, while others take the opposite tack and shut down their printing operations. The Chicago Sun-Times revealed Tuesday that it will become the second major metropolitan daily in the United States to outsource all of its printing. But rather than turning production over to a commercial printer, the Sun-Times will entrust its printing to the rival Chicago Tribune.

The next day, Baldwin Technology Co. announced that is has sold UV dryers that will be installed on two newspaper presses in Australia “to significantly