Huffington Print- thar she blows!

A while back, I wondered why we hadn’t seen the much-ballyhooed syndicated print version of The Huffington Post. Editor & Publisher now reports that HuPo print syndication will begin the week of September 12, and will be offered to papers twice-weekly instead of daily, as originally planned:

Tribune Media Services gave the feature a beta test, from early June into July, with approximately 10 newspapers. TMS was not surprised to find that papers didn’t feel they could use “The Huffington Post” on a daily basis. “It was a question of available space,” said John Twohey, TMS vice president for editorial and operations, when contacted today by E&P Online.

The feature will be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with each package including two Op-Ed-length blog entries and one selection of blog excerpts from The Huffington Post site. Each of the three components is expected to run 700 to 800 words.

If I’m doing my math right, three components of 7-800 words each is about sixty percent of a typical newspaper’s typical Op-Ed page. Is any major paper really going to allow itself to be colonized like that? My guess is the Huffington Print, like ol’ Nessie, will remain elusive.

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