The Sun Star goes to the News-Miner
By Amber McCain
Lizzy Hahn, Amber McCain, Colin Warren, and Kevin Huo outside of the News-Miner with their freshly printed copies of The Sun Star.
On Monday, April 14, and Tuesday, April 29, the Sun Star team had the unique opportunity to visit the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and get a behind-the-scenes look at how our April issue was printed.
The News-Miner prints all its editions in-house as well as The Sun Star. During our visit, Brian Webster, manager at the News-Miner, acted as our tour guide, sharing fun facts about the paper’s long history as we walked. Founded in 1903 as the Weekly Fairbanks News, the publication later became the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, led by C.W. “Bill” Snedden, who took over as publisher and owner in 1950.
We learned about how the paper has weathered some hard times, like during the 1967 flood that disrupted production and delivery. After the 1964 Anchorage earthquake, the News-Miner had helped by publishing the Anchorage Daily News. Later, during the flood, the Anchorage paper returned the favor, printing the News-Miner’s template within its own editions.
Hot off the press! Literally
On our first trip, we walked through the full production area and learned the order in which everything happens. We saw where the ink is stored, how massive the ink basins are, and discovered that the old press, from the 1960’s, still running smoothly, is serviced annually. Before printing Webster explained that the massive, recycled paper rolls, shipped up from Oregon, have to be carefully thawed and dried before they can be used. We learned a little bit about everything from the plate-making process to newsroom operations that will hopefully help our own paper thrive.
In the plate room Webster advised to wear dark clothing because the ink tends to find its way onto anything and everything, even on the walls. We learned about the color separations, the use of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink (CMYK), and how digital files get laser-transferred onto aluminum plates for printing purposes.
During our second visit, we got to watch an issue of the Sun Star being printed. With a run of about 2,000 copies, the whole process only took about half an hour. Getting to see firsthand how newspapers are made was a fun, eye-opening experience.
