VISIT TO IL GIORNALE DI SICILIA.

Last Thursday 7th April 2016, Il Giornale di Sicilia was visited by a large group of students and teachers from six different countries: Sweden, Poland, Turkey, Romania, Spain and Italy (the host school). The visitors are working on an Erasmus + programme KA2 project related to the media and the news.
At its offices, the guests were explained how a journal is made from its very beginning until we get them in our hands and they had the opportunity of visiting the installations as well. They got precise information about what the work in a journal is like by watching an explanatory video of its history. This is what they learnt after watching it: The history of Il Giornale di Sicilia.

The newspaper was founded in 1860 by Girolamo Ardizzone, whose bust can be seen at the conference room at the journal headquarters. The owners of the journal have been the same family since it was started, which is a unique case in Italy. The actual owner and manager is Antonio Ardizzone, one of the descendants of the founder.

The journal began operating at the same time that Italy became a united country as we know it today. In fact, Giuseppe Garibaldi wanted to provide the Sicilian citizens with a journal that could inform them of the crucial steps followed at that time in the country. The first number was stamped on 7th June 1860 at Palermo and the journal became a serious independent way to get the news.

In 1947, GirolamoArdizzone, the founder's grandson, took the management of the journal standing for the rights and interests of the island as it continued to be with its successive managers. Giovanni Pepi is the co-editor nowadays.

Like all over the world, things have changed with the passing of time and the printing system has evolved from using the ancient linotype machines (late 19th century till the 1970s), which used lead, iron and antimony, to offset lithography and, eventually, computer typesetting. The noise and the heat of a lynotype at working time have totally disappeared today and the time for production has been shortened as the process is simpler.

How is a journal born?

It starts with the editors work. Nowadays, thanks to the latest technological devices, they are connected to their terminals and can get the news in real time. As the terminals are connected to several different news agencies all over the world, they can get all kind of news such as: national, international, sports, culture and performances. As well, they can get worlwide photographs.

The journal has several local offices scattered along the island, which coordinate the work done by the journalists in that precise area. The local news used to be delivered by bus until the use of Internet spread everywhere. There's a general server which can be accessed by any journalist who is registered and has a personal password.

The editors, working with the suitable edition programme and following the guidelines established by the political management of the journal ellaborate the pages fully, including the text and the photographs.

All the sections which compose a journal: national chronicle, local chronicle, sport or performances, are made following the same procedure.

Choosing the pieces of news and their precise location.

Each section has an assigned number of pages. The pages are shared by a number of journalists who will be in charge of providing the news to fill in the pages. The number of journalists depends on the number of pages they have to work on.

The number of pages assigned to each section is directly related to the amount of publicity that must be published and the number of pages needed for the pieces of news which will be developed. This editorial work and the making of decisions concerning the planning of the journal take place in the afternoon meeting amongst the editor-in-chieves, the department heads and the director. They have a full scheme of the pieces of news and articles at hand and, afterwards, they decide which ones they should delete, which ones should be developed, which of them should go to the front page, and which are the most relevant. The director decides which ones will be published.

 

Then, the work of several groups that will decide which piece of news goes to each particular page starts. They will have to decide the length of the articles and the photographs. The graphics sector is in charge of the layout of both articles and photographs. But previously, the editor must have chosen which pieces of news are the most relevant amongst the ones chosen. The most important one will be located at the top of the front page and the other ones will be smaller and will be placed at the sides and at the bottom.

The edition software used allows to define the geometry of the page just by using the mouse. It's a fast system which let's you modify anything just in a few seconds. Previously, at the time of the lynotype, it took several minutes to do any change. At this point, the edition is finished. But it still has to go to typography where they will add the publicity pages and they will make the services pages: necrology, useful numbers, travel, cinema, etc. Eventually the pages are revised looking for possible mistakes or failures. And to end, the last page which is made is the 1st one, the front-page which is like the shop window of the most important news. The graphics service pays special attention to this page.

The journal with all its pages is sent to the Photo unit CTP, computer to plate, to produce the moulds for stamp or flexible relief plates. After a chemical process, the metal plates are ready for printing. Flexography is the type of printing used at Il Giornale di Sicilia. This technique allows to print the inked protruding surfaces of the plates (matrix) by bringing them into firm contact with the paper. The rotary press of this journal produces 80 journal pages, many of them coloured. The speed of production is 70,000 copies per hour. The ink used in the process is very stable and doesn't pollute or makes the reader's hands dirty as it's based on water.

 

The grouping and packing is controlled by two computers. The journal has ten editions: One which is national and other nine which are local, corresponding to the provinces in Sicily. The final packed journals will be delivered in Sicily and Italy as well as amongst the subscribers. Thanks to the digital technology and the Internet the journal is available anywhere in the world by using any gadget at hand: PC, ipad, iphone and tablets with Android technology.

Article made by the Erasmus + KA2 team that travelled to Palermo from IES de Catabois, Ferrol.