The parent company of the East Valley Tribune, Freedom Communications, is testing a free, ultralight newspaper for busy people in Colorado, announcing the concept could spread if it works.
The Colorado Springs Gazette will distribute the four-day-a-week bulletin, known as Ink, in downtown areas. "This is meant to be a 10-minute publication people can read while they're having a bagel," says the paper's executive editor, Jeff Thomas, in a Gazette article. The regular newspaper will still be available for now. But who knows, maybe the lightweight Ink will actually be the Gazette in a couple of years.
The Arizona Republic already has a similar product floating in Valley neighborhoods, those fluffy Republic tabloids that never seem to be filled with anything interesting. The Trib has already ditched its own tabloid, Get Out. Which brings up the question: Does the world need more Ink, or just more bandwidth?