Computers Producing Newspapers In U.S.

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30042, 29 January 1963, Page 10

Computers Producing Newspapers In U.S.

[lpseUty written for the W4EP.A by

FRANK OLIVER]

NEW YORK, January 25. The New York newspaper strike seems certain to bring nearer automation in the printing industry. This is something printers have long feared, but their strike action in New York promises to give reality to their nightmare.

One of the elements in the New York newspaper strike has been the teletypesetter, a technical innovation which threatens to eliminate a number of jobs. The publishers of New York newspapers want an over-all understand-

ing about the use of this machine in their printing plants, but the union has been trying to negotiate "ground rules” for its use at each individual newspaper.

The teletypesetter is a machine which transmits and sets type in one operation. The process can be used for sending and printing the stock exchange lists, for sending printed material for editions in other cities or even over-

seas editions and for sending out syndicated articles and other material.

But automation in the newspaper industry promises to go much further. Recently more than 150 men in the newspaper publishing business gathered in West Palm Beach, Florida, to get a close look at what printing automation is doing and to get a glimpse of the newspaper of tomorrow. The teletypesetter has been in modest use for some years, but before its use can become general it already seems to be out of date. Computers Used At West Palm Beach, in the offices of the “Post-Times,” the 150 visiting publishers saw how a computer can eliminate both the teletypesetter and its operator. They saw subeditors editing copy, which was then whisked to an electric typewriter on which a typist punched out a paper tape. This was then fed into an R.C.A. computer. This machine took the stream of words on tape, figured out justification of lines and attended to the hyphenation of words at the ending of lines. They then saw a tape emerge from the computer and be fed into a line-casting machine which turned out lines such as are thrown out by a linotype operated, by a manual operator. The publishers also were given a look at the newspaper of tomorrow, a system which will go far beyond the “Post-Times” system. On that tomorrow (not so far away) the edited copy of reporters and writers of special articles and leaders will be fed into a computer which will attend to the setting of type, combine it in page form complete with photographs, a ’ flash a complete page on a cathode ray tube for conversion through new engraving methods into a plate for the printing press. The operation from edited copy to printing plate will be completed in 10 minutes. Computers Elsewhere That, however, is for the near future. At present the system developed in West Palm Beach is being extended to various cities across the country. The “Los Angeles Times” has said that it is already producing 50 columns of type each day with the R.C.A. 301 computer and that it is only waiting for the delivery of more electric typewriters for tape-punching to extend the system still further. Similar systems are operating in Miami, Florida, South Bend (Indiana), and Oklahoma City.

Two newspapers in Oklahoma City are using an 1.8. M.

computer to wt i eonddera»e amount <rf copy and within a matter ot weeks the delivery of other IBM machfaMM will enable thorn to set all their type automattc»Hy. : •- ■. At the publiAetv’ gathering in West Mn Bench, officials of RXiA said their cathode ray “page'generator" should be in general ust within 10 years and a somewhat simpler machine, a “column generator,” much earlier than that. One of the beat-known makers of linotypes in America is now building faster line-oaating machines to take advantage of the increasing use of computers to prepare tape for feeding into automatic line-casting machines. Some concerns are working hard on photographic processes for composing text and advanced studies are being made of electronic photocompoeing and magnetic printing. Soaring Costs The new systems of producing a newspaper are being enthusiastically studied by publishers because printing costs have been soaring. Indeed the New York newspapers now struck say that to accept union demands for a settlement would bankrupt some of them and put an intolerable burden on others. Publishers are, therefore, receptive to signs of technical change. As one publisher said at the West Palm Beach gathering, “Methods in the newspaper industry are so archaic that we need some major breakthrough to survive." John H. Perry, publisher of the “Poet-Times” of West Palm Beach, is working on the perfection of his Perry Photo-composer which, he believes, will revolutionise the preparation of display advertising. He also believes that there will be computer type-setting for classified advertising, and that the computer will not only punch the tape but ciaaaify the advertisements, make out the bills and do other paper work.

I The magazine “Business Week,” reports that in West Stalm Beach, Los Angeles, and Oklahoma City, computers for typesetting alone are regarded as being at least as ch wap as conventional methods and they have reserve capacity for other jobs at a later date at almost no increase in costs. Equipment Rented Computer type - setting equipment at the “Los Angelas ■nines" is rented, the monthly rental running to a little more than 5000 dollars but it already has eliminated half of the 100 typesetters in the composing room. An official of the newspaper says that any paper that employs about 20 typesetters can justify the rental of a computer system at 3500 dollars a month. In Oklahoma City, the newspapers plan to have another and more advanced IBM machine within two years and then be able to feed it with such data as editorial requirementa and advertising space sales to get a printed dummy with advertisements and news stories all laid out. Some reporters are even wondering whether the future holds a computer-reporter in store for attending press conferences and generally gathering the news but they seem borne up by the old adage that a reporter is as good as his legs—and computers have no legs.