FRONT-ENDING

noun (Science and Technology) In media jargon, direct input of newspaper text by journalists at their own terminals, cutting out the traditional typesetting stage. Etymology: Formed by adding the action or process suffix -ing to front end (the part of a computer system that a user deals with directly, especially a terminal that routes input to a central computer); the term front end is used attributively (in front-end system etc.), for the 'new technology' which allowed journalists to set their own copy. History and Usage: Computer scientists used the term front-ending from the early seventies to refer to ways of using mini- and microcomputers in networks attached to a single central computer. In the context of newspaper production, the term came into the news in the mid eighties, when the introduction of the system in the UK (especially by the News International group producing The Times, The Sunday Times, Sun, and News of the World) gave rise to mass picketing by print union representatives who were angry about their members' loss of jobs in typesetting. I intend to negotiate the introduction of front-ending and...a modern web-offset printing plant. The Times 10 July 1986, p. 21