In an era where digital reigns supreme, the question often asked is — what's the future of print? For U.K.-based publisher National World, that question wasn't just theoretical — it was urgent. With over 120 weekly and 13 daily titles under its belt, producing more than 6,000 editorial pages every week, the burden of print had become an immense operational challenge. But instead of abandoning it, National World chose to revolutionize it — with the help of Atex.
This vision came to life at the World News Media Congress 2025 (#WNMC25), where Tim Robinson, publisher at National World, delivered a candid, forward-looking presentation about the journey to automate print production without compromising editorial integrity. And at the heart of this transformation stood Atex with its print automation solution.
“We still see significant value in print,” Robinson began. “Even our smallest titles continue to turn a profit. They have life left in them.”
But National World knew survival wasn’t enough. To thrive, it needed scale, efficiency and agility. With more than 3,000 pages each week just from the weekly publications alone, the only viable solution was automation.
The collaboration with Atex didn’t begin overnight. A decade ago, National World started with templated pages and centralized design teams. As it shifted from a print-first to a digital-first model, the staff laid the foundation for intelligent automation.
Robinson emphasized a critical organizational shift: content creation and print production were completely separated. Content teams focused solely on stories, while a specialized print team took care of producing the final newspaper layout — using Atex's automation tools.
This shift not only allowed National World to streamline operations, but also ensured that the focus remained on journalistic quality rather than repetitive production tasks.
Perhaps the most striking achievement is that a full weekly newspaper can now be produced in just one hour — a claim that once seemed unrealistic, even to National World’s own team.
Here's how it works:
The output? A fully designed, print-ready newspaper — accurate, formatted and consistent.
“No reader has ever noticed the difference,” Robinson remarked. “The papers still look like newspapers. They’re readable, consistent and high-quality.”
To date, 58 weekly titles have fully transitioned to automation, with 1,500+ pages produced weekly using the new workflow. By Q3, National World expects to automate all of its weekly newspapers — a total of 102 titles. This isn’t about job cuts. It’s about reinvestment — freeing up skilled editorial staff to focus on storytelling, analysis and multimedia content that enriches the digital landscape.
Automation at National World is not stopping with weekly titles. The next frontier? Daily newspapers and broadsheet formats.
Robinson shared that Atex and National World are actively developing workflows tailored to the fast-paced environment of daily production. Additionally, they’re exploring print-on-demand and custom publications, hinting at a future where newspapers can be personalized or localized with zero extra effort.
As the digital age evolves, so must the ways we support the legacy mediums that built modern journalism. What National World and Atex have accomplished is not a retreat into the past — but a launch into the future.
By reimagining the value of print and equipping it with the speed and flexibility of digital, they’ve created a model that other publishers can look to with hope and ambition.
A newspaper in an hour? It's not a myth anymore. It’s a reality — driven by purpose, and made possible by Atex.
Watch the WNMC25 presentation: https://youtu.be/_4rFASg4XvQ
