News Publishing Company — parent company of The Cedartown Standard — is adding a new $2.35 million press as part of its continuing upgrade and expansion of its community newspapers.

Company president Burgett H. Mooney III this week signed the contract with Dauphin Graphic Machines Inc. for a state-of-the-art press that will take its printing process from the mechanical to the digital age.

The current press in Rome was installed in 1968 and has for almost four decades printed tens of millions of copies of newspapers distributed in Northwest Georgia.

In addition to the Rockmart and Cedartown papers, News Publishing Company prints the daily Rome News-Tribune, its other four weekly newspapers and three shoppers plus several newspapers for other publishers.

Each week the company prints and distributes 184,000 paid copies of community newspapers in Northwest Georgia and Alabama and 116,000 copies of free publications.

The new press will print 35,000 copies per hour and provides automated digital control of the printing process.

“That will result in higher quality print reproduction, better color photos and ads and cleaner and crisper pages,” said Otis Raybon, vice president of operations. “So the quality of the newspapers we deliver to readers will be greatly improved.”

The press will be manufactured at DGM’s plant in Harrisburg, Penn. Brian LaBine, DGM president, said the press provides cutting-edge printing technology.

“There’s been a great increase in the use of color in newspapers over the years. With this press, you’ll get much better color and more color. This press is truly state of the art.”

The company plans to remove the old press at the Rome headquarters and start installation of the new one in the spring of 2007.

Mooney says the new press shows the company’s commitment to the area.

“We’re not only investing in our company and our products, we’re investing in the communities we serve,” said Mooney.