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Regional press news - this story published 07 February 2007

Yorkshire title announces tabloid move after in-paper vote

by holdthefrontpage staff

The Wakefield Express is to convert from broadsheet to tabloid format - after an in-paper vote showed that it was what the vast majority of readers wanted.

The Johnston Press-owned title also plans to introduce a new masthead to coincide with the change, and will unveil its new look on March 16.

Editor Mark Bradley said feedback from the community had made it a fairly easy decision to ditch the broadsheet shape.

He said: "We did an in-paper vote asking if the paper should remain a broadsheet or go tabloid and an overwhelming majoirty - 93 per cent - said tabloid.

"Also through world of mouth you do hear what people want and a lot of people have said they love the paper but wouldn't it be good if it was easier to handle.

"This was also backed up by some market research that we had done a couple of years ago."

How the paper currently looks

The new masthead will incorporate an image of Wakefield's cathedral, which is the main focal point of the town.

Sport, which is currently in a separate tabloid supplement, will also move to the back of the book, and the paper's existing tabloid property, motors and entertainment supplements will remain.

Mark said: "We want to try and keep the style and feel of the paper while making it easier to handle. It's the old 'evolution not revolution'.

"Obviously it is a dramatic change and there is a lot of hard work going into it.

"But I'm sure that that hard work will be worthwhile."

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