Despite what many believe about printing, it is not a dying practice. The printing industry continues to experience growth in other areas, such as advertising. The Global Commercial Printing Market is projected to be worth $484.22 billion by 2027, a nearly 12% increase from 2021.

Relief may be at hand for newspaper operations dogged by newsprint supply chain snarls and the rising costs of the paper over the past three years. Newspapers should expect significant changes in the market by early 2023 along with downward pressure on prices, according to Derek Mahlburg, director of North American paper and packaging analysis for Fastmarkets, an information provider for the forest products industry that newspaper operations pros turn to for data.

After a nearly three-year COVID-related hiatus, newspaper industry executives gathered at the Hotel Viking in Newport, Rhode Island, for an International Newspaper Group conference, Sept. 17-19. The conference provided a snapshot of the innovations, challenges and general state of newspaper operations in North America. Here are five takeaways from the event.

The newspaper pros working in news publishing operations and logistics not only understand every department’s mechanics (beyond presses and equipment), they often contribute new thinking and concepts to help uncover profitability. Operations All-Stars — a joint project between E&P and the International Newspaper Group — recognizes three winners, plus three additional runners-up, as this year's top talent.

Longtime media industry consultant Ken Harding has taken his talents to Hearst Newspapers. Harding’s title at Hearst is senior vice president of business effectiveness, an unusual — though fitting title — to describe what he’s doing.

The industry is approaching a pivotal year (2026) when digital newspaper ad revenue will surpass print newspaper ad revenue, according to the most recent Global Entertainment & Media Outlook report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. And, frequency trends for print are heading away from the full seven-day print delivery. Editor & Publisher recently spoke with Kevin Rehberg, vice president of client development at the Alliance for Audited Media, to see what AAM is up to in the shifting marketplace.

Newspapers around the country are scrambling to keep enough rolls of newsprint in stock to make their print runs and they also are closely monitoring ink and printing plate supplies. And, it's only expected to get worse in Q3 and Q4, several publishers recently told E&P. As they perform a delicate dance to maintain the paper flow, they’re turning to alternative methods and outreach.

Staffing issues remain top of mind among newspaper operations managers, says Wayne Pelland, senior vice president of operations at Gannett and president of the International Newspaper Group. The number two issue is the rising costs and availability of raw materials. Those challenges and others will get attention as the group returns to live events post COVID lockdowns.

Mail delivery of local newspapers is a hot topic in some corners of the industry. It also needs to be part of the conversation around saving local journalism, most of which is still done by newspapers.

The printing and packaging of all Wisconsin newspapers produced at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel facility in West Milwaukee will be moved to the printing plant at the Peoria Journal Star in Illinois.

The Peninsula Daily News will be delivered to every subscriber every publication day starting at the end of the month. It will be by mail.

A shortage of truckers and blockade bottlenecks have put a crimp on newsprint deliveries to the nation’s newspapers.

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: Shifting from a print-first publishing workflow to a digital-first process helps create and encourage an audience-first philosophy in newsrooms.

In this article, read how Sun Times publisher Darryl L. Flowers is wrapping up work to acquire a press and return newspaper production to the Electric City.

Ogden Newspapers has decided to close Press Works Ink, the company that did the printing for Nevada News Group. None of the publications are closing or changing in any material way.

Recently, Heidelberg hired Jeff Powalisz as director of PMC Atlanta to oversee its demo room operations. With a combined 22 years of experience at Heidelberg, Powalisz will manage daily customer demonstrations, training and testing in the demo room.

Jim Falzone, an accomplished newspaper executive, has been promoted to vice president of production for CNHI, LLC, the company announced Monday.

The Cleveland Jewish Publication Company, publisher of the Cleveland Jewish News, announced Dec. 21 that it has reached an agreement with the Jewish Community Board of Akron to publish a new Akron Jewish News, a monthly newspaper to serve the Akron Jewish community.

The MPC Board of Directors met this fall and reviewed our status. We determined that it was unrealistic to continue to hold conferences from both a financial and participation point of view. Unfortunately, we have decided to dissolve our MPC nonprofit organization.