A look inside the newspaper printing process
Last Thursday, Jan. 5, after sending Sol del Valle to print, the Sol del Valle and Sopris Sun teams traveled through the Glenwood Canyon to the printing press where both newspapers, along with many other local publications, come to life on paper. The Colorado Mountain News Media (CMNM) printing facility is located in Gypsum.
The tour was led by Dan Barton, supervisor at CMNM, who has worked in the industry for more than 20 years. He was joined by Andrew Salazar, who has worked alongside Barton for nine years. For our news team, the tour was an opportunity to see inside this critical part of the production process.
The editorial team sends a fully designed digital file, but it is at the press facility where that file becomes a physical newspaper. Barton explained that CMNM uses environmentally-friendly materials, including soy-based inks, recyclable cardboard, newsprint paper and recyclable aluminum plates. According to Barton, around 22% of the materials they use are recyclable.
The process begins with special aluminum plates passed through a machine that uses lasers to engrave the design of each page, separated into four colors. The base colors used are cyan, magenta, yellow and black — similar to those used in a standard printer.
The plates are then reviewed on a computer, where color levels are checked. From that point on, the experience of the press team shines as they manually adjust the inks. Loud sounds and bells signal when everything is ready for a test print.
At this stage, between 600 and 800 test copies are printed when the newspaper is 12 pages or less, and up to 1,500 copies when it’s more than 16 pages. The larger the newspaper and the higher the count, the less relative waste is produced. The team has only a few minutes to align the colors and make sure each page is properly set.
As copies moved quickly through the press, members of the Sol del Valle and Sopris Sun teams commented on how meaningful it was to see the process in-person, noting that among the thousands of copies printed each week, it is sometimes possible to spot a photo that did not align perfectly.
Barton explained it simply: “This is graphic art, not graphic science.”
Some interesting facts
• CMNM recycles around 40,000 pounds of newspaper at a time.
• The press prints approximately 20,000 newspapers per hour.
• Each month, the team manages between 100 and 120 large rolls of paper weighing more than 1,500 pounds.
• Each roll produces about 28,000 copies.
• CMNM prints an average of 3 million issues of different newspapers each month.
• The DGM 440 printing press was installed in 2006 for around
$13 million.
CMNM serves several mountain communities, including the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys, Steamboat Springs, Vail and Eagle, as well as some publications in Denver.
During the tour, Salazar shared that Sol del Valle was the first team of Latino, Spanish-speaking journalists he had guided through the facility. He said that seeing the newspaper printed there was especially meaningful. “Having you here and seeing Sol del Valle being printed shows that we’re here, that we’re united and that we’re strong,” he said.
Salazar also shared what he enjoys most about his work. “I like the daily challenges and the growth I have made,” he said. Despite long hours and late nights, Salazar takes pride in the work and, as one of the youngest members of the team, looks up to the seasoned pressmen.
At the end of the tour, Barton summed up his commitment to print journalism: “Newspaper isn’t dying yet, not as long as I’m around.”