Summary

In 1995, Ifra published a Special Report 1.11 in which a shade for standard newsprint called “Newsshade 95” was defined. This shade was a modification and an update of the earlier shade, which had been promoted by the Scannews Technical Committee and adopted by Ifra with the designation “Newsshade 88”. Now, a new research project has just been completed which sets out to update the values associated with Newsshade 95 by taking into account technical advances in both measurement methods and production processes. The project also included a survey of improved newsprints, since the improved grades account for an increasingly large share of the paper currently used by newspaper printing plants. Many supplements, and also the front pages of some newspapers, are today printed on this paper grade. Measurements have been carried out, the results have been analysed and the data have been discussed. These data refer not only to standard newsprint, but also to a large number of improved newsprint and Value Added Coldset samples. The results show that a wide range of shades and a wide range of brightness values can be found among the improved newsprint samples. It is not however possible to group the samples into any significant clusters, and the working group decided that the values for the improved newsprint should be further discussed before any recommendation is made concerning a standard “Improved Newsshade”.