Since its full-scale launch in 2000 as a new editing and composing system, the EDISON 21 (EDIting & layout System Of Nikkei for the 21st century) has enabled editors to freely grade news value, prepare headlines, load photos and create onscreen page layouts, including the creation of color pages and automated layout of market data. Finished pages are transmitted to printing locations in Japan and abroad, as the articles they contain are simultaneously posted to The Nikkei Online Edition and Nikkei Telecom 21.
Page editors assess the news value of articles and photos delivered from the editorial desk to determine column size and prepare headlines. Page materials, such as articles, headlines and photos, are then laid out using EDISON 21 to create pages.
Illustrations, maps and graphs are prepared on dedicated imaging terminals that run package software and can easily handle photograph gradation revisions and color adjustments. Numeric data, such as corporate and market information taken from the integrated Nikkei Economic Electronic Databank System (NEEDS), is automatically converted into graphs and charts.
Page make-ups are output in full-page size with a large format printer. Articles and headings are then scrutinized for grammatical and other errors and improper expressions by reporters, the editorial desk, page editors, and the proofreading department, and the copy quickly and accurately corrected.
Advertisement graphics are delivered on digital data such as CD-R or PDF to the advertising department. The advertisement planning department uses page layout terminals to insert the ads into the pages. The advertisement pages and news columns, which have been individually produced, are then integrated on a computer and transferred to printing locations across the country.
Composition terminals continually display the current state of page composition sent to each printing site in real time. The composition control section centrally manages the entire newspaper production process, sending information required for each process to printing locations from the terminals as needed.
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