The core technology may be 1960s, but the press due to be commissioned for Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post is set to harness the latest updates to deliver sustainable, quality printing.

Management at the paper – owned by Bezos’ Nash Holdings since 2013 – say it hopes to start printing at a new smaller print centre near Dulles airport by the end of this year.

US-based supplier ImPressions Worldwide is set to install an all-colour 28-unit Goss Urbanite press with an array of technology including camera-based auto register and density from Swedish developer DCOS in the new 5,500 m2 building it is leasing.

The single-width press design, first introduced by the then Miehle-Goss-Dexter in the mid-1960s, has remained popular with publishers including several Lee Enterprises sites, and the Boston Globe, which installed almost 100 pre-owned Urbanite units at a site in Taunton in 2016. The latter takes advantage of the design’s 889mm maximum web width and used re-engineered plate cylinders to support multiple narrower webs.

The first of the Washington Post press units are currently being refurbished at ImPressions headquarters at Burlington, Washington State. Configuration details of the 28-unit press, notionally capable of a 56-page all-colour broadsheet – have not been disclosed, but one option exploiting the width of the units, may be capale of delivering an 84-page product instead. ImPressions Worldwide offers a three-wide option based on that developed by the late Ken Floyd’s Web Specialties, in which an assembly (pictured) takes two full-width webs and converts them to four webs of uneven width, with each being cut into a one-third and two-thirds arrangement. One ImPressions customer with an Urbanite uses both web splitting and stream separating, printing multiple community newspapers simultaneously.

 Impressions had been offering this Goss Urbanite in Tupelo – comprising 12 stacked units – earlier tis year.

While it says much of the newspaper industry has reduced or abandoned print, the Post’s publisher says it “remains committed to this facet of its journalism, recognising print as a trusted, premium medium that continues to deliver value to readers, advertisers and shareholders.

“Print is not a legacy obligation for the Washington Post,” plant manager John Bratt said in the announcement. “It is a strategic choice to strengthen it through smart investment, right-sizing, and modern technology.”

The current 46,000 m2 print centre in Springfield, Virginia dates to 1980, its Mitsubishi colour web-offset presses among eight commissioned there and at a new plant in College Park, Maryland, in January 1999.

The Post had made the switch to phototypesetting in 1980, with Springfield opening as a satellite plant that year with four ten-unit offset presses, while eight city-centre lines were converted to photopolymer letterpress.

The latest move – from a facility “built for an era of far higher circulation and page counts, aligns its physical footprint with today’s demand while preserving quality, control, and operational resilience”.

Audited circulation of the paper – which was 1.3 million in 1980 – is reported to have fallen below 100,000 subscribers last year for the first time in at least 55 years. In 2023, it had 130,000 print subscribers and 2.5 million digital subscribers, putting both third behind the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Post chief officer of print operations Gregg Fernandes, “Print continues to be an important medium to our readers. It is a valuable, profitable way we offer our critical journalism to customers and a key market differentiator.

“We will be producing the same uncompromising, high-quality product with a more efficient and sustainable approach.”

ImPressions says the Urbanite will be configured to provide exceptional web-offset print quality. “The machine consists of 28 printing units and can print colour on every page. It is equipped with flying pasters, three folders, motorised register, Perretta remote inking, Inventor spray bars, US Automation ink levelers and web detection, Bardac drives, and the latest advanced camera-based auto register and density technology from DCOS, enabling reduced make-ready waste, improved colour consistency and optimised print performance.

“The installation will start soon, and live production should start around Thanksgiving (November 26).

ImPressions sales vice president David Gilmore says the investment underscores a commitment to delivering outstanding print quality in a smarter, more efficient production environment: “By combining proven web offset technology with advanced inspection systems, The Post is ensuring its readers and advertisers continue to receive brilliant ink-on-paper results.”

Founder and president Tom Loesch said his company was built on, and remains steadfast in, supporting excellence in print production: “We too remain focussed on supporting ink on paper, and we are proud to partner with the Washington Post in its commitment to maintaining control of its print operations in an evolving media environment.”

DCOS has the experience, with chief executive Mattias Andersson boasting in 2021 that his company was simultaneously working on 11 projects on Goss presses.

The Post company publishes metro-Washington Spanish-language paper El Tiempo Latino, which it bought in 2004, and the Slate online magazine which it bought from Microsoft the following year. Free commuter paper Express (launched in 2003) was closed in 2019. Its activities include the Arc Publishing and Zeus Technology offerings to publishers.

Peter Coleman

Read more, October 3, 2016: Old is new again: US going back to its print future

Pictured, from top: The Dulles logistics centre, where space is being leased for the new Washington Post print centre, close to the Loudoun Gateway Metro station;

Work starts on refurbishing the Urbanite units at ImPressions Worldwide in Burlington, WA;

A placard at the Post’s headquarters at One Franklin Square; ‘Print is not a legacy obligation’, plant manager John Bratt says.