go to bed

In newspaper production, a publication goes to bed when the final page is locked into the printing forme and composition is complete. From that moment forward, no further edits or corrections can be made without stopping the press and dismantling the forme. The term marks the hard deadline between editorial work and mechanical production.

The phrase originates from the physical reality of hot metal typesetting. Once type was set, locked into a chase with furniture and quoins, and the forme was deemed ready, it was moved to the printing press bed, a heavy iron table where it would be inked and printed. To say the edition had gone to bed meant the forme was in position and the presses could begin. The metaphor stuck even as technology moved from Linotype to offset lithography to digital workflows.

Timing of the go to bed moment varies by publication and deadline structure. A morning newspaper might go to bed at 10 or 11 p.m. the previous evening; an evening paper in early afternoon. During this window, reporters and editors work under pressure knowing that late-breaking news arriving after go to bed cannot be included without triggering a press stop and remake, a costly and time-consuming operation.

In modern newsrooms using digital systems, going to bed is now a software operation: the editorial team freezes the final layout, confirms all corrections are made, and exports the page file to the prepress system for plate imaging. The practical consequence remains identical. Once the plate is burned or the digital file is sent to press, alterations require stopping production and reworking that page.