L.A. ‘Hoy’ to Cease As Daily
CHICAGO Tribune Co.’s Los Angeles edition of the Spanish-language tabloid Hoy is ceasing daily publication.
Hoy will publish once a week in print, and is targeting its Saturday Fin De Semana total market coverage (TMC) product, said John T. O’Loughlin, executive vice president and chief marketing officer/targeted media and marketing of the Los Angeles Times Media Group.
“With these moves, we are smartly recognizing that these are the days most important to our readers and advertisers and, in publishing twice a week, we can produce Hoy more efficiently and continue offering it to readers free of charge,” O’Loughlin said in a memo to employees. The memo did not mention when the change will take place, or what day Hoy will publish in print.
Christian Science Monitor publishes final daily print edition
Dear readers:
The Christian Science Monitor has published its final daily print edition, dated March 27.
The key words in that sentence are “daily print.” As of today, we are shedding print on a daily basis. But the Monitor itself – the century-old journalistic enterprise chronicling the world’s challenges and progress – is becoming more daily than ever. And with the launch of our new weekly print edition, the Monitor is becoming more vital than ever.
No longer inked on wood pulp, no longer trucked from printing plants to your mailbox, no longer published only five days a week, the daily Monitor is now a dynamic online newspaper on all days.
The Monitor is available everywhere – St. Louis, Johannesburg, Boston, Buenos Aires, Jakarta, Toronto – the instant you go to our website, CSMonitor.com.
via Editor’s message about changes at the Monitor | csmonitor.com.
Michigan’s Ann Arbor News to close and be replaced by AnnArbor.com
The Ann Arbor News today became the latest American newspaper to announce its closure. Editor Laurel Champion explained that the publication has been dealing with “steep losses”, but that there was nothing that staff “did or didn’t do that would have sustained our seven-day print business model”.
Daily print editions will continue throughout July, after which point the publication will move online and become AnnArbour.com, with print editions produced twice weekly. As well as local reporting the site will contain social networking and reader input features, and all journalists will be equipped and trained to report news as it happens.
Champion explained that the newspaper has gone through “very difficult times”, like many financially strained American newspapers. She also said that despite the decision demand for local news has never been stronger and that the News’ closure is “by no means the end of local journalism in Ann Arbor”.
via Michigan’s Ann Arbor News to close and be replaced by AnnArbor.com – Editors Weblog.
‘Tucson Citizen’ to Close Saturday — After 138 Years
For nearly 140 years, the Tucson Citizen has told the stories of Southern Arizona, but on Saturday, March 21, the state’s oldest newspaper will tell its last — its own.
Gannett Co. Inc., the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, announced in January it would close the Citizen if it didn’t find a buyer for certain assets. Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing, said the paper was losing money and was a drain on Gannett operations.
The Citizen becomes the latest casualty of a newspaper industry struggling to survive despite the tough economy, dwindling advertising revenues and Internet competition. The battle has been especially tough in two-newspaper towns.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer to go Web only
SEATTLE (AP) – Seattle will be a one-newspaper town after Tuesday, when the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer prints its last edition.
The P-I will continue to live on the Internet with a much smaller staff.
Parent company Hearst Corp. says it has failed to find a buyer for the newspaper, which it put up for sale in January after nine years of financial losses.
The end of the print edition leaves The Seattle Times as the only major daily in the city.
The announcement comes about two weeks after Denver’s Rocky Mountain News published its final edition.
Computer Shopper Is Going All Digital; April Is Last Print Issue
paidContent has learned that Computer Shopper will cease print publication with its April issue, due off the press next week, and become online only at ComputerShopper.com. The announcement was made internally tonight; some jobs will be affected but owner SX2 Media Labs LLC isn’t disclosing numbers. ComputerShopper.com GM Josh London said the company has been profitable “as a whole” but declined to say whether the print version was profitable on its own. He also said the company is interested in acquisitions.
Via paidContent
Rocky Mountain News to close, publish final edition Friday
The Rocky Mountain News publishes its last paper tomorrow.
Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Scripps, broke the news to the Rocky staff at noon today, ending nearly three months of speculation over the paper’s future. He called the paper a victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry.
“Denver can’t support two newspapers anymore,” Boehne told staffers, some of whom cried at the news.
On Dec. 4, Boehne announced that Scripps was looking for a buyer for the Rocky and its 50 percent interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency, the company that handles business matters for the papers, because it couldn’t continue to sustain its financial losses in Denver. Scripps said the Rocky lost $16 million in 2008.
“This moment is nothing like any experience any of us have had,” Boehne said. “The industry is in serious, serious trouble.”
Troubled San Francisco paper in danger of closing
The San Francisco Chronicle joined the lengthening list of imperiled newspapers Tuesday as its owner set out to purge the payroll and slash other expenses in a last-ditch effort to reverse years of heavy losses.
If it can’t reduce expenses dramatically within the next few weeks, the Hearst Corp. said it will close or sell the Chronicle, northern California’s largest newspaper with a paid weekday circulation of 339,430.
via Troubled San Francisco paper in danger of closing: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance.
Another Newspaper Company Goes Bust – JRC
It’s worth noting that these early busts can be tied directly to a management decision–specifically the decision to load up on debt. These companies would have survived a lot longer if they hadn’t borrowed so much money.
Shira Ovide, Wall Street Journal: Journal Register Co., the debt-strapped owner of the New Haven Register and 19 other daily papers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Saturday, at least the third newspaper publisher to tip into bankruptcy court in recent months.
Philadelphia Inquirer Publisher Files for Bankruptcy
The owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News filed for bankruptcy amid declining advertising sales, more than 2 years after a buyout led by local businessman Brian Tierney.
Philadelphia Newspapers LLC listed both assets and debt of as much as $500 million each in a Chapter 11 petition filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Philadelphia. Seven other units also sought protection including Philadelphia Media, PMH Acquisition, Philly Online and PMH Holdings.
Philadelphia Newspapers, created in June 2006 when Tierney’s group bought the titles from McClatchy Co. for $562 million, joins other U.S. publishers in bankruptcy as the economic crisis exacerbates declines in ad spending and readership. Journal Register Co., owner of 20 daily newspapers, sought protection yesterday, citing “slumping advertising revenues.”
