The publisher of the Wall Street Journal said it is looking for a company in Hawai'i to print locally distributed copies of the newspaper that currently are printed on the Mainland and flown to the Islands.

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

Flying the newspaper to Hawai'i has meant a significantly higher cost for local subscribers to the Journal, the nation's premier business and finance newspaper.

Mainland residents pay $249 a year for a subscription compared with $382 for Hawai'i readers. 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 and graphics, shorter stories and fewer "jumps" of stories 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 3-inch cut to the paper's width will save about $18 million a year in printing costs.

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, managing editor Paul Steiger said.

In addition to the visual changes, Steiger said, the newspaper will 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 such as its 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 also will 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 in focus groups seemed particularly enthusiastic about the Journal's new look and feel.

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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.