Northern Echo changes shape after 137 years

Another broadsheet is down-sizing. The Northern Echo, the Darlington-based daily, announced this morning that it is to become a compact from February 26. Its Saturday edition has been compact for a year and that has proved popular, adding sales while the weekday broadsheet has lost them. The editor, Peter Barron, tells readers that a reader survey showed 80% in favour of the smaller size. "This has not been an easy decision", he writes. "The Northern Echo is an institution - one of the country's most famous provincial titles - and it has to be treated with great care... But the world has moved on and readers are demanding their news in an easier, more convenient format." So, after 137 years, the paper hopes to improve - or, at least, preserve - its current circulation of 52,314 with a change of shape. (Via Northern Echo)