Let's do it Trips: Times Columnist, October 12, 2011

We were met in the lobby by Angel Crane from the circulation department who was our tour guide. Waiting a few minutes gave us a moment to view the huge cedar sculptures from various angles.

Our tour was excellent, starting with the editorial department and a short presentation from the features editor. We saw how the copy editing was completed and page layouts were created from his computer. Next we met Jack Knox who began with a (humorous) profuse apology for anything he may have written and who went on to describe his job as a columnist. Today he was writing about Thrifty Foods co-founder Alex Campbell and was getting revved up for a rant about the senior air traveller who had her heart medications confiscated as she went through airport security in Calgary en route for Victoria. Apparently medications have to be in the bottle with the prescription label and not in a daily dispenser box. We agreed that this was an eminently rant-worthy topic.

Next we saw how the plates with the page layouts are printed and then went through to the press, which was on two floors of the building. There we saw how the plates are used to print the final copies of the newspaper. The press guys explained how the process works - it's something like this. The TImes Columnist presses are not exactly like those on the page linked to, but the process is the same.

Finally we got to see how the paper inserts are put together and put into the finished newspapers. We managed to get an explanation for why the TV TImes always seems to be folded incorrectly with half the pages wider than the other half. It's to allow for the bulky advertising inserts of course.

This was an excellent tour; we learned a lot in quite a short time. The TC has a free on-line edition that is updated every day at least but which contains only limited content. There is also a full version online that is only $11 per month and which includes all the content including puzzles and comics, full archive access, and full access to the other newspapers in the group including the National Post. Home delivery subscribers to the TC get free access to the full electronic version.

The TC sells roll ends of newsprint for packing purposes, and people can also order mounted prints of photos or whole pages from the newspaper.