The Future of Print

Montreal’s La Presse set to go all digital-reports | Reuters

Posted in Stop the presses, Tablets by futureofprint on March 14, 2011

La Presse to slash print run by more than half

Will offer free iPads for long-term subscribers

One of Canada’s most influential French-language newspapers is discarding most of its print distribution to focus on a digital edition, and will give away iPads to promote the move, Canadian media reported on Friday.

La Presse, which was founded in 1884, will phase out its printed broadsheet over three to five years, online trade publication J-Source.ca said.

The Montreal-based newspaper’s circulation of around 200,000 will be slashed to 75,000, rival Le Devoir reported. It said La Presse will give away Apple iPads or similar tablet devices to subscribers who sign up for a three-year digital contract.

via Montreal’s La Presse set to go all digital-reports | Reuters.

Sulzberger Concedes: “We Will Stop Printing The New York Times Sometime In The Future”

Posted in Doom, Stop the presses by futureofprint on September 8, 2010

At a conference in London, Arthur Sulzberger Jr conceded that someday the New York Times Company will be forced to stop publishing a printed paper.This sounds obvious, but it’s a big deal.

via Sulzberger Concedes: “We Will Stop Printing The New York Times Sometime In The Future”.

A Quick Primer On The US Newspaper Collapse

Posted in Doom, Stop the presses by futureofprint on July 9, 2010

Earlier this week, we gave you a few staggering factoids on the state of the U.S. newspaper industry.

You know, cheery stuff like how there have been roughly 35,000 newspaper job losses or buyouts since March 2007.

Or how 166 newspapers have either shut down or stopped putting out a print edition since 2008.

Or the fact that the U.S. print sector lost more than 24,500 jobs between September 2008 and September 2009.

Good times.

It’s all from a new report by the World Association of Newspapers and Newspaper Publishers.

The stats seem even more bananas when viewed in the form of colorful charts and maps.

So we put together a little presentation to take you through it all.

via A Quick Primer On The US Newspaper Collapse.

L.A. ‘Hoy’ to Cease As Daily

Posted in Doom, Stop the presses by futureofprint on March 31, 2009

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.

via L.A. ‘Hoy’ to Cease As Daily.

Christian Science Monitor publishes final daily print edition

Posted in Doom, Stop the presses by futureofprint on March 27, 2009

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

Posted in Doom, Stop the presses by futureofprint on March 23, 2009

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

Posted in Doom, Stop the presses by futureofprint on March 16, 2009

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

Posted in Stop the presses by futureofprint on March 16, 2009

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.

via Seattle Post-Intelligencer to go Web only.

Computer Shopper Is Going All Digital; April Is Last Print Issue

Posted in Doom, Stop the presses by futureofprint on February 27, 2009

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

Posted in Doom, Stop the presses by futureofprint on February 26, 2009

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.”

via RockyMountain News