Morning regional The Journal has been relaunched with a new look to its news, features and sports pages.

The company said it wanted to make the paper easier to read and more entertaining – but without compromising the quality of what’s already on offer in the Newcastle-based tabloid.

Deputy editor Graham Pratt said: “The new look Journal introduces a lot more white space to stop stories looking cluttered but without dropping the number we use.

“We’ve carried the template into the sports pages but given them their own sans serif font to give it a modern feel.

“We’ve also improved our sections such as Primetime, our daily TV and entertainment guide, to include more on the region’s arts, something that has really taken off around the Newcastle-Gateshead bid for European Capital of Culture status in 2008.”

Graham, (34), was recently promoted from assistant editor and has been working on the relaunch project for the past few months.

He’s hoping the changes will encourage interactivity with the paper’s 101,000 readers, a task being made easier with the relaunch of the Journal’s Direct Line service which gives readers a place for them to sound-off, and to resolve their consumer issues.

Graham said: “Feedback has so far been very positive and we hope this will be reflected in our circulation figures.”

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