A Dutch newspaper gives real meaning to the term ‘widely read’

By wpcomimportuser1 | June 25, 2007 | +

A cousin who was passing through Schiphol over the weekend bought me a copy of my favorite newspaper, the NRC Handelsblad. I haven’t had time to actually read it yet, but I was immediately struck with how the NRC, always one of the widest newspapers on the planet, has so far resisted the trend toward skinnification. Next to the Wall Street Journal, which used to be the widest of American papers, the NRC now looks positively giant:

No, it’s not the most convenient of formats. (I may bring the paper with me on the subway this morning and see how many people I can irritate by opening it up.) But it looks great, doesn’t it?

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The NRC is 40 percent wider than the WSJ but has space for 67 percent more columns (eight vs five). (The width of the columns appears to be the same.) The savings in gutter space per column is pretty good.

The NRC bedsheet paper, with the same amount of news and advertisement area, can be produced for only 88 percent of the paper cost of the WSJ.
If it is mailed, there is probably also a postage savings.

So why have newspapers become narrower?
Justin Fox

This is an excellent question. I think I’ll try to talk to the people at the NRC about it.