[ratherbefuddled]

I'm sure it's not what you're suggesting but low margins aren't an excuse for breaching a contract or doing a poor job of printing. If it can't be done at the right quality economically, it's better to not do the job at all which is what the contract seems to have been trying to guarantee.

Print media is in decline and will only lose more ground now to digital media, which of course has a significant cost advantage. Perhaps publishers should recognise that now and aim towards a niche of fewer very high quality prints that are as much aesthetic as practical. The price increase which is inevitable in any case as volumes drop might not look so bad then.