Design and editorial changes are in store for The Globe and Mail.

The daily newspaper is boosting its arts and sports coverage and may add editorial process color and increase its page width.

Roger Parkinson, publisher and chief executive officer of the Globe, says the color and size changes have not yet been decided, nor has their timing.

Parkinson says all of the ‘stakeholders’ in the Globe, including advertisers and their ad agencies, are being consulted about the proposed changes.

He says about a month ago the broadsheet sent around a prototype Globe to test advertiser reaction.

He says he is using the prototype as a way to begin a dialogue with the ad industry.

Parkinson makes clear he and Editor-in-Chief William Thorsell will not issue an order dictating what, if any, the changes will be.

In any event, he says another prototype is due to make the rounds soon.

Barry Avrich, vice-president of Echo Advertising, a heavy advertiser in the Globe, saw the first prototype that circulated and he says he is excited by the proposed changes.

But, Avrich says he is ‘not thrilled’ by the prospect of having to adjust to the mechanical demands of a wider Globe and Mail.

Thorsell calls the suggested alterations at the paper refinements of an existing design rather than a change.

Thorsell says the Globe’s present size works well, although the paper is looking at ‘British-size’ broadsheet widths.

He says if any page width has the upper hand at the moment it is the Globe’s current one.

Like Financial Times

Avrich says although he cannot be certain, he thought the page width of the prototype he saw approximated the width of The Financial Times, a familiar sight in Canada’s large cities because of its orange paper.

The Financial Times, not to be confused with The Financial Times of Canada, a tabloid, and owned, like the Globe, by Thomson Newspapers, is about the same width as other British-style broadsheets and wider than Canadian broadsheets.

New arts editor

On the editorial front, Thorsell says the Globe has hired James Adams to be its new arts editor.

He says Adams spent the last six or seven years at publisher McClelland and Stewart in Toronto. Before that, he says Adams was a journalist in Alberta.

The paper and the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild, which represents four groups of Globe employees, are negotiating a new contract.

Paul Pellettier, an executive officer with song, says the union could go on legal strike Sept. 30, or the Globe could legally lock out song members on that day.

song represents reporters, photographers and non-management editors, ad sales staff, circulation employees and maintenance and delivery workers at the Globe.

Points of contention

Pellettier says he would be ‘surprised’ if the Globe let a strike occur, but points out there are some points of contention between the two sides.

Parkinson says he is optimistic a settlement will be reached, and adds negotiations are continuing in ‘workmanlike fashion.’