LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: READERS LIKE USE OF COLOR

There is no need to draw attention to the fact that color in the Southeast Missourian has been iffy the past couple of weeks. But several of you have asked, with what I took to be genuine interest and concern, about the missing color. Here, for everyone, is what's going on.

Like typographical errors and misplaced headlines and upside-down photos, readers are quick to notice when things aren't right in their local newspaper.

Thank goodness.

It would be a sad day for newspapers if they could make mistakes and nobody noticed.

Quite a few years ago, a good friend who had been the popular and highly regarded editor of a twice-a-week newspaper in suburban Kansas City left to become the editor of a daily newspaper in California. After he was settled in his job, we talked on the telephone. "How do you like it?" I asked. I have never forgotten his reply:

"Being the editor of a daily newspaper isn't much different from being the editor of a weekly newspaper. You just see your mistakes more often."

The use of color in newspapers is relatively new. The large web presses on which newspapers are printed weren't invented to print full-color images. Over the years, though, they have been adapted and modified to the point that remarkably good color is no longer beyond reach.

By the time USA Today started up several years ago, many newspapers had been experimenting with color. A lot of this was because advertisers saw the advantages of having bright colors to draw the readers' eyes. Color moved into the news columns, not only because it was available, but mainly because editors wanted to create an eye-pleasing product. But USA Today's use of full color in its news columns launched a new era for newspapers. For the first time, editors could see a real-life example of the potential of color. And everyone started falling over themselves to emulate Gannett's national daily newspaper.

Sadly, in many cases, the copycat attempts were less than successful. But most newspapers using color now have mastered most of the problems and pitfalls. There are so many steps required to produce a good-quality color photo in a newspaper that the margin for error is abundantly large.

Computers play a large role in today's color photography. While Missourian photographers still use film in their cameras for photographs, the world of digital images is here. As a matter of fact, many of the black-and-white photos in the Missourian's advertisements are taken with a digital camera, which means the images are stored on a computer disk instead of film, and a computer reads the images and allows human beings to make adjustments and prepare the image for use in the newspaper.

Color photos on film are scanned into a computer, and the same adjustments are made to create an image that will reproduce well when it is printed on newsprint.

Along the way, the image is reproduced by another computer on several layers of page-size film. Then the image is reproduced again on an aluminum press plate. Then the image is reproduced again on the image roller of the web press. Finally the image is put on newsprint to become part of the newspaper.

You can see how many opportunities exist for doing something that will result in a poor-quality color photo. For a couple of days it seemed more prudent to abandon color rather than try to make adjustments that might or might not turn out well for the readers. In spite of that, it was necessary to publish some color photographs as tests to see if all the corrections were working. Slowly but surely we are regaining quality color.

Let me say that our recent trials and tribulations have given readers ample opportunity to ask questions and make comments. It has been reassuring to hear you say how important color is to you, and to hear your supportive words. Most of you, after all, have computers of your own or other equipment that doesn't always work right. Thanks to all of you who have consistently urged us along.

~R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.