Hubs for innovation: Examining the effects of consolidated news design on quality

Abstract

In an effort to cut costs, newspaper chains nationwide have consolidated design operations at a few sites. These design hubs have changed the newspaper production process and removed designers from newsrooms; yet, top designers are able to work with their peers in a major city to produce all titles for a chain. This study uses a quantitative analysis of front pages collected from 435 newspapers throughout the United States to examine the quality of newspaper designs at hub and nonhub-designed newspapers. It concludes that hub designed newspapers are generally better designed than nonhub newspapers.

Publication Title

Newspaper Research Journal

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