Fairfax Media has confirmed it will launch its redesigned newspaper titles Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in tabloid format next Monday.
The move is enabling Fairfax to close its two biggest printing facilities at Chullora in Sydney and Tullamarine in Melbourne, which will see the printing of the newspapers shift to cheaper regional sites, and some 400 printing jobs lost.
The new tabloid papers will be printed the regional centres of North Richmond, Canberra, Ballarat and Albury. Fairfax is hoping to raise some $90m form the sale of Chullora and Tullamarine, as well as making significant annual savings.
The move comes as Fairfax seeks to become a multi-platform news service, with an increasing emphasis away from print and onto digital
Sections of the two papers have been printed as a compact (tabloid) for several years but the switch of the news, world, opinion and arts pages of the Herald to the new format ends 181 years of it as a broadsheet.
One of the biggest changes in this structure will see the size of the body type of stories increased by 10 per cent to make them more reader friendly.
