British daily papers are trying lots of new approaches in an effort to survive and thrive in the current media landscape. Gone are those "gray guarantors of quality"--broadsheet newspapers--in favor
of colorful tabloids that bear the familiar names, but are shrunk to fit a world where convenience is king. Yet downsizing is only the most visible of several high-stakes experiments that Britain's
mainstream newspapers are trying to stem a circulation decline of more than 10 percent over the last decade. And the dramatic changes make U.S. newspapers look cautious by comparison. Not only have
three of the four so-called quality papers reduced their size to a more commuter-friendly format, but radical redesigns and new sections vie for the public's attention; reader-written copy is taking
up space on pages formerly reserved for reporters' words. But from a U.S. point of view, the most controversial move of all: news on one front page has been displaced by opinion and analysis,
transforming that newspaper into a "viewspaper."
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