Newsprint by the numbers
Each roll of newsprint weighs just under 1 metric ton, about 2,200 pounds.
Each roll prints 32,000 copies of four pages across, or eight total using both sides of the roll.
If unrolled, a roll of paper would stretch just over 11 miles, about the distance from the Fremont Street Experience at Las Vegas Boulevard to Interstate 215 near Town Square Las Vegas.
The Review-journal uses about 150 rolls per week for the daily publication and to print El Tiempo, Auto Magazine, Neon and the company’s affiliated weekly newspapers in Pahrump and Boulder City.
Newsprint rolls arrive by rail car directly to the Review-journal building, which can accommodate the content of five rail cars holding between 72 and 87 rolls each. It takes about three days to use all of the paper in a full rail car.
During the $1 billion Project Neon highway construction project, rail cars headed to the Review-journal have been diverted to another site for off-loading, and the paper is transferred to the building by truck.
Janet Owen as demand goes up. Industry leaders fear newspapers might have to increase advertising rates and costs to consumers or cut staffs to keep up with the higher prices.
Ad revenue key
While displaying news exclusively online is an option for news organizations, print advertising is the primary generator of revenue for most newspapers and is essential to keeping the newsgathering side strong.
“It’s very possible that inadequate newsprint reserves will affect the page counts of the Review-journal and perhaps that of our partner in the joint-operating agreement, the Las Vegas Sun,” Review-journal Publisher and Editor Keith Moyer said Wednesday. “We’ll do everything possible to keep popular features in the print edition every day, and if we have to cut some content, we’ll publish the newspaper in full for our e-edition.”
The Review-journal’s e-edition is a digital version of the print edition that allows readers to scroll pages and read each article with a tap or a mouse click on the story. It is available at no charge to all print subscribers.
Print subscribers who have not registered for the e-edition can do so by going to the bottom of the Review-journal’s home page, www. reviewjournal.com, and clicking on the e-edition link at the bottom left. Additional pages of coverage will be added to the e-edition if they have to be cut because of inadequate newsprint supplies, Moyer said.
STOPP campaign
Boyle said the News Media Alliance is coordinating an education campaign about newsprint tariffs and how they are affecting local communities. The organization is encouraging the public to contact representatives in Congress through its new website, stopnewsprinttariffs.org.
The organization’s STOPP campaign — for Stop Tariffs on Printers and Publishers — says tariffs threaten an estimated 600,000 jobs across the U.S. printing and publishing industry.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @Rickvelotta on Twitter.