Monday, November 10, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

INFORMATION REVOLUTION: Fit to print

Electronic newspapers give following current events a whole new look

Met Po Wong reads a printout of The Miami Herald sent by NewspaperDirect to The Venetian. NewsDirect offers 180 newspapers from throughout the world. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

Along the Strip at The Venetian, you can pose for pictures with grinning gondoliers and feast on sushi at the Tsunami Asian Grill.

And, while you're there, you can get a printout of The Boston Globe or The Washington Post.

Just down Las Vegas Boulevard at Bellagio, you can watch fountain sprays dance and dine on miso-glazed Chilean sea bass at Aqua.

You can also devour a print version of The Philadelphia Inquirer or The Miami Herald.

Newspapers in print from major cities worldwide have arrived in Las Vegas.

Earlier this year, NewspaperDirect launched service at The Venetian and Bellagio through deals brokered by Independent Publications Distribution of Houston. The distribution company said it is also negotiating to bring the service to Mandalay Bay.

NewspaperDirect prints 180 newspapers, including popular U.S. titles such as The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Post. Foreign editions come from Germany, France, Czech Republic, Brazil and Canada.

The company has 350 distribution points worldwide, said Richard Miller, vice president of sales and marketing for NewspaperDirect, a Vancouver, British Columbia, venture.

Miller said the on-demand newspapers are printed on 11x17 inch photocopy paper (front and back.) The papers, he said, resemble those printed on newsprint and often include the same advertising that appears in print minus inserts.

"The content's the same. You've got everything, even the comics," Miller said.

It works simply.

Using copies sent by publishers over the Internet, NewspapersDirect sends versions in portable document format files for printing at remote printers. Consumers buy the newspaper from the outlet with the printer, in many cases a hotel gift shop.

Miller pointed out print versions have advantages over free online editions.

"People want to be able to read what's going on as opposed to seeing it on TV," he said. "(And) reading on a screen is not accepted in many parts of the world. They want to read what's coming on paper."

Wireless technology, or wi-fi, might eventually make online newspaper reading on laptop computers, particularly the new tablet-style personal computers, nearly as portable as paper. But laptops require batteries, Miller said, which eventually drain and die.

Daily newspapers are famously cheap, but NewspaperDirect's special-order versions aren't. They're $6 at The Venetian, $7 at Bellagio.

Mark Rome, president of Independent Publications Distribution, said people will pay.

"We haven't had anybody complain about the price point," Rome said. "If you're staying at Bellagio, ($7) probably doesn't seem like a lot."

Rome said NewspaperDirect seemed perfect for Las Vegas, particularly with its large number of visitors from other countries.

"Europeans and Asians are fanatical newspaper readers," Rome said. "It's a huge deal for them to be able to read the paper when they're here on vacation."

So far, the service has been well-received, said Mary Ann Price, public relations manager for The Venetian. Because the gift shop where the newspapers are printed is near the Grand Canal Shoppes, both hotel patrons and shoppers can find it easily.

"You don't even have to be staying here to buy them," she said. "If you wanted an Arabic newspaper, just to find out what was going on, you can come in off the street and buy one."

The papers print in 15 to 30 minutes and come smaller than regular newspapers for easy carrying, Price said.

She also said store operations director Michael McCartney told her the service lets the hotel deliver timely newspapers and save costs. Papers shipped in to Las Vegas, particularly from overseas, arrive later than their publication date and include shipping expense. The service is popular enough, McCartney relayed, that guests from other hotels come to The Venetian just to order papers.

At Bellagio, NewspaperDirect is part of the service for guests at the Villas, though if other hotel guests request it, they're accommodated, spokeswoman Yvette Monet said. She said Bellagio gets 10 to 30 requests monthly for the $7 papers from a mix of guests, including many from outside of the United States.

"Some people who request the service are interested in finding out what's happening in their homeland, a lot are interested in international political situations," she said. "Others are interested in business developments and prices of commodities."