Mathrubhumi’s nine-step INCQC process

“It is an honour. No one can win alone. It has been a team effort,” said Bhasi. “For this, even though I am from the production team, I hold regular meetings with the editorial team and the photographers.”

 

At Mathrubhumi, this co-ordination, among the different aspects of the newspaper, is a regular feature. However, this time around, Bhasi explains, these meetings were held for a bigger target to be achieved; to win the colour quality club certificate.

 

Headquartered in Kozhikode, Kerala, Mathrubhumi has a circulation of 1,458,796 (as of December 2013). The newspaper prints 17 editions in India and overseas. In Kerala, it has 10 editions, four in the rest of India and three in the Middle East.

 

“It is not an easy task to maintain consistency in newspaper production, as it involves many components and processes,” he said, adding, “And, in this, consistency in quality raw material matters a lot, not just in newsprint, printing presses, printing inks, and consumables, but also in the content and photographs.”

 

Bhasi, who has around three decades of experience in newspaper production, emphasised on the nine points that helped the newspaper publisher win the accreditation in INCQC. These include a thorough understanding of the INCQC scores and evaluation, clearance of the basic ideas on colour management, calibrated pre-press, photo quality and colour correction, press inventory standardisation, measuring instrument – IIA, pre-press and press calibration, employee skills development, simulation/print trails and finally, competition.

 

To achieve this, besides working together in-house, Bhasi said, the company also organised meetings with its suppliers, whether it was printing presses, printing inks or newsprint. “Thus, it became a team effort. Each person of the newspaper production house was involved in it,” he concluded.

 

The goal of the International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC) is to improve the quality of reproduction and printing in production, while also increasing competitiveness as well as training and motivating all personnel. The competition has been held every two years since 1994.

 

Newspapers that participate with success are awarded membership for a two-year period in the exclusive club of top-quality titles. Multiple winners and participants in the Wan-Ifra certification project also have the prospect of being awarded membership of the Star Club.