WASHINGTON -- USA Today, a national daily newspaper to be published coast to coast, came up against its first real deadline Tuesday, with the first edition set to roll off the presses early Wednesday morning.
The imaginative new venture in American journalism is the brainchild of Allen H. Neuharth, president of the Gannett newspaper group, who is betting that a lot of Americans will plunk down a quarter for what he calls 'the nation's newspaper.'
Although 45 daily newspapers went out of business in the United States last year, Neuharth said he expects USA Today to be profitable within three to five years.
The newspaper, which has been through several protoype editions in recent months, faces it first test in Washington-Baltimore market. By early next year, plans call for it to be published Monday through Friday in 15 market clusters across the United States.
USA Today is designed with lots of color and graphics, and will emphasize sports, weather and business. Its production is keyed to the new technology that has swept aside typewriters and hot lead type.
The contents of the paper will be transmitted by satellite from editorial offices at Rosslyn, Va., just across the Potomac River from Washington, to printing facilities around the nation. The Washington-area plant is at Springfield, Va.
The 40-page newspaper will carry two pages of daily capsules of general news, with items from each of the 50 states.
Weary but excited staffers Tuesday put the final editorial touches on the first edition that really counts.
'I think now there will be a tremendous sense of relief for the paper to be out on the street,' said Jim Brosseau, who lost a writing job when The Bulletin folded last January in Philadelphia and signed on six weeks ago at USA Today.
'We've been re-inventing the wheel several times a day around here and it will be good to finally get some feedback from beyond our own confines.'
If new technology made the venture possible, the man who must make it work is Larry Sackett, Gannnett's vice president for telecomunications.
Sackett, describing operations on the eve of the launch as 'quiet,' added, 'That's just the way I like it.'
Ted Iliff, working on the world desk, noted that the staff had successfully produced many trial editions.
'This is basically just another day at the office,' he said, adding, 'Of course this one counts more than the others.'
Mitch Koppelman, director of photography, said, 'This is probably the only chance any of us will ever have to start a newspaper. Even if it goes for only two or three years, it's going to be a hell of a ride.'
