The New York Times reports that it plans to reduce the size of the newspaper effective April 2008, making it narrower by one and a half inches (via MediaBuyerPlanner). It will also close its printing operation in Edison, N.J. The resizing will be accompanied by a phased-in redesign of the paper and will mean the loss of 250 production-related jobs.

The reduction in the size of The Times will mean a loss of five percent of the space the paper devotes to news. If the paper only reduced the size of its pages, it would lose 11 percent of that space, but the paper will add pages to make up for some of the loss.

Reduced circulation numbers for U.S. newspapers has forced many publishers to rethink design. Newspapers including USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post have already reduced their size. The Wall Street Journal announced in October that it would shrink its pages starting next year.

The company said the changes would save about $42 million a year - $30 million by consolidating printing at College Point and $12 million by reducing the size of the paper.