The possibility of local printing comes as the newspaper announced a number of changes that include reducing its width from 15 inches to 12 inches starting on Jan. 2. The Journal was forced to print its Hawai'i papers on the Mainland because it has been unable to find a Hawai'i press capable of producing the wider size.

The added costs of flying the newspaper to Hawai'i may be one reason why more Hawai'i residents don't subscribe to the Journal, the nation's premier business and finance newspaper.

Mainland residents pay $249 annually for a subscription while the added distribution costs bring the expense of a Hawai'i subscription up to $382. Single copies cost $1 on the Mainland and $1.65 in Hawai'i.

In addition, some promotional subscription prices aren't available to Hawai'i residents. A current online promotion lets readers subscribe to the Journal for $99 a year if they live in the contiguous United States, leaving Hawai'i and Alaska residents out.

Other changes coming next year for the newspaper include more color, graphics, shorter stories and fewer "jumps" to the inside of the paper.

The Journal's front page will have a similar overall look to the current paper, but with five columns instead of six and a two-column news summary flush with the left side of the page. The three-inch cut to the paper's width will save about $18 million per year.

The smaller size will result in about 10 percent less space inside the paper for news, but about half of that reduction will be offset by moving several statistical tables to the paper's Web site, Paul Steiger, the managing editor, said.

In addition to the visual changes, Steiger said the newspaper would also focus more on exclusive and interpretive news, versus accounts of what happened the day before. The Journal has been making greater use of its online outlets like it Web site for breaking big news, he said, a trend that would continue.

"We are not agnostic about which channels readers use," Steiger said, referring to the Journal's print and online editions. "We want them to use both."

In an effort to bring in more young readers, the paper will also launch a marketing program to make sample copies available to young professionals. Gordon Crovitz, the publisher of the Journal, said that women and young readers seemed particularly enthusiastic about the Journal's new look and feel in focus groups.

The smaller size is in line with a widely used industry standard and will allow the paper to be printed in more locations, making it easier to produce and deliver to remote locations.

Other major newspapers have cut their width in recent years, including Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and Gannett Co.'s USA Today. The New York Times is planning to reduce its width in 2008.