Globe and Mail hands $1.7bn contract to Transcontinental

Transcontinental Inc, a global printing company, has announced that they will be printing the Globe and Mail for 18 years, following the end of the current print contract in 2010. Over the next two years Transcontinental will add improvements to their already sophisticated multi-platform line, including the ability to print and integrate flyers with the paper.

CEO and Publisher of the Globe and Mail, Phillip Crawley, said "High-quality color production capacity has always been a key point of distinction for The Globe and Mail. Transcontinental's commitment to providing the most progressive high-speed color printing capability will keep us at the leading edge. With millions of people every week reading the paper version of The Globe and Mail, sophisticated printing capability is vital to our business."

The paper, which was redesigned in April 2007, will be reduced in size by 1 3/4 inches to a height of 21 inches (53 centimetres).

Globe publisher Phillip Crawley said a full-fledged redesign will take place as the added use of colour and ability to print on various paper stocks will provide more options for advertisers and be welcome by readers.

"This gives us an opportunity to get a competitive advantage in terms of what we can offer that other people can't," he said in an interview from Toronto.

The Globe and Mail, which is owned by CTVglobemedia and in print for 163 years, reaches more than 2.80 million readers every week. According to International Newspaper Color Quality Club, or INCQC, the Globe and Mail is one of the top 50 newspapers in the world for its printed quality.

Transcontinental also prints The New York Times for the upper New York state and Ontario markets and La Presse. In 2006, Transcontinental bagged a billion-dollar contract to print the San Francisco Chronicle.

Read Full Post...

Phillip Crawley

Publisher and CEO - The Globe and Mail

Phillip Crawley was chosen to lead The Globe in October 1998, weeks before a newspaper war against a new national rival was to begin. Mr. Crawley, the Globe’s publisher and chief executive officer, had held senior editorial and executive positions with major newspapers on four continents. The Globe and Mail has remained firmly in place as Canada’s leading national newspaper and has made impressive gains in circulation and readership despite increased competition. In July 1999, Richard Addis, a veteran of London’s fierce newspaper wars, was named the newspaper’s editor.

As Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail, Crawley is responsible for leading all aspects of Canada’s national newspaper.

Prior to joining The Globe and Mail, Crawley held a variety of senior executive positions with some of the world's leading newspaper and media companies. From 1997 to 1998 he was the Managing Director of The New Zealand Herald, and later the CEO Designate of Wilson & Horton, the newspaper's owner and New Zealand's largest media group, including newspapers, radio, magazines and print, (wholly owned subsidiary of Independent Newspapers of Dublin). Between 1993 and 1997 he was Managing Director, The Times Supplements, London (subsidiary of News International, publisher of The Times Educational Supplement, The Times Higher Educational Supplement and The Times Literary Supplement). From 1988 to 1993 he was Editor, then Editor-in-Chief of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and Editorial Director of Asia Magazine. Between 1987 and 1988 he was Northern Editor, The Daily Telegraph, London, and between 1979 and 1987 he was Editor of The Journal, Newcastle upon Tyne. Prior to 1979, Crawley worked in various editorial roles for Thomson Regional Newspapers.

Crawley is chairman of the Canadian Press (as of May 2007) and is a member of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre board in Toronto. He is a former chairman of the Canadian Newspaper Association and a former co-chair of Workopolis, Canada’s #1 careers website. He is involved with various charities, including The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Crawley was born in Northumberland, England in 1944 and graduated in English Language and Literature at Manchester University.

Read Full Post...