Trib may use tabloid format

CHICAGO, March 7 (UPI) -- The 157-year-old conservative Chicago Tribune may make its main edition into a tabloid, Crain's Chicago Business reported Monday.

Crain's quoted two Tribune employees saying they had seen working prototypes of the project.

The tabloid concept comes as newspapers grapple with industry-wide circulation declines and seek new readers. Research suggests younger readers prefer a more compact format, Crain's said.

"Generation Y, that's their format," said Susan Mango Curtis ar Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. "They should all be thinking about going tabloid."

The Tribune first used a tabloid format to lure young readers when it launched its weekday daily RedEye in October 2002. RedEye, which has struggled to add paid circulation but has attracted new advertisers, features truncated versions of Tribune stories and irreverent columns written for a youthful audience.

But thus far, no major U.S. broadsheet publisher has issued a tabloid version of its flagship edition. Tribune Publisher David Hiller declined comment.