Michael V. Copeland of Fortune magazine reports that Hearst is developing a version of the wireless e-reader Kindle with a larger screen for newspapers and magazines. The new product could be available this year. Copeland reports:

Insiders familiar with the Hearst device say it has been designed with the needs of publishers in mind. That includes its form, which will approximate the size of a standard sheet of paper, rather than the six-inch diagonal screen found on Kindle, for example. The larger screen better approximates the reading experience of print periodicals, as well as giving advertisers the space and attention they require.

The device is apparently a big part of Hearst’s future as it shifts away from print. Besides the Chronicle and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Hearst publishes magazines including Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan Popular Mechanics, Seventeen and SmartMoney. At right is a Kindle reader, which can be used to read subscriptions to several newspapers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle.