Newsworld kicks off digital printing of Mail in U.S.

By Tara McMeekin
Editor

Newsworld Corp. Ltd. last month kicked off digital production of London's Daily Mail at a New Jersey print site for distribution to readers in New York.
Newsworld produces 500 Daily Mail copies six days a week on a Screen Truepress Jet520 digital press outfitted with a Hunkeler finishing system. The papers are printed at AlphaGraphics in New Jersey before they are distributed in New York, said David Renouf, Newsworld's chief executive.
"We started production on Sunday night of the Daily Mail — successful production and produced the papers for Monday's edition," Renouf told Newspapers & Technology.
The papers were delivered by newspaper distributor Speedimpex to newsstands throughout Manhattan for single-copy sales.

Photo: Newsworld

Newsworld's David Renouf shows off the inaugural edition of the Daily Mail produced at AlphaGraphics in New Jersey for New York distribution.
Last year, Associated Newspapers Ltd., which publishes the Daily Mail, signed a four-year deal with Newsworld to produce the British paper in the United States for distribution in New York.
For now, Newsworld is printing the Daily Mail six days a week but will begin producing the Mail on Sunday later this year, Renouf said.

Dubai printer ramps up
Meantime, Newsworld partnered with Atlas Media in Dubai for the digital production of U.K., European and U.S. newspaper titles in the Gulf region.
The deal includes a $2.6 million investment in a new Screen Truepress Jet520 digital press, which could be commissioned as early as May, according to Amit Radia, chief executive officer of Atlas Media.
"There has always been a demand for international titles in the UAE, but the drawback was the lead time from import to newsstand delivery, which was always 10-12 hours too late," he said. "We will overcome that with this model."
The partnership will launch with approximately six undisclosed titles, with the printer producing anywhere from 500 to 2,000 copies of each.
Atlas has traditionally been a web offset printer of magazines, but recently developed a digital media division, which Radia said will focus on new media and technology.
"Newsworld has an excellent business model and the titles they work with are some of the most popular ones," he said.
Radia believes this model can be a successful one for newspapers as long as they make it valuable.
"It is a very niche industry and one has to develop the market with value-add in terms of distribution and service (which) deviates completely from the traditional print model," he said.
Radia said he's confident in the capability of the Screen and Hunkeler equipment to deliver the quality readers and advertisers demand.
"The quality is on par if not better than that of a normal newsprint paper on an offset web."