Return of the Broadsheet

With little fanfare, the Middletown Press has abandoned the tabloid format and returned to the classic broadsheet layout for the newspaper, starting with today's edition. While it doesn't exactly fit in the tabloid-oriented honor boxes around town, the layout is handsome and appealing to the eye. The downside, of course, is that a broadsheet eats up copy and makes the paper appear very, very thin - a problem when full-time staff at the daily is currently down to minimal levels. This return to a bygone format is interesting in a time when production of a print newspaper is problematic in the day of instant news via the internet.

Nonetheless, we welcome the nicely-designed addition to the local newsracks, and hope it breathes some life into a newspaper that has been gasping for breath.