"While we are inviting current Ann Arbor News employees to apply for positions with the new company, it is with a heavy heart that I let you know that job losses will be unavoidable,'' Publisher Laurel Champion said in a letter today. "We have an extremely talented staff at the Ann Arbor News and they have done a tremendous job through very difficult times. There is nothing they did or didn't do that would have sustained our seven-day print business model."Also today, three other Michigan papers said they'll cut production to three days a week. Those papers and the Ann Arbor daily all are part of the Booth Michigan chain controlled by the Newhouse family, owners of Vanity Fair magazine publisher Conde Nast. Booth also owns the Grand Rapids Press, Muskegon Chronicle, Kalamazoo Gazette and Jackson Citizen Patriot.
Gannett's Detroit Free Press and the MediaNews Group-owned News announced plans in late 2008 to cut home delivery to three days a week. The Freep and News will still publish a print edition seven days a week; those delivery changes will begin a week from today. The Freep is one of five Michigan papers owned by Gannett.
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.
[Image: this morning's Freep front page, Newseum]
Oh God, this is really scary. Web-only means nothing but disaster - especially for public records and First Amendment.
ReplyDeleteOne of the few things keeping local government in check has been the power of NEWSPAPERS...
Printing of public notices (now not required online or the web) and state records laws will fall quickly as "web content" providers shift to news of Britney Spears and local bars.
This is really frightening. and sad
Ann Arbor has typically been immune from Michigan recessions, but not this time. The Ann Arbor News has been a fairly lazy but decent newspaper, content to rake in average business in a monopoly situation. Reporters and editors were competent if not exciting, with occasional strong efforts. Revenue-wise, they were happy to take the easy money that rolled in to what was an insulated, strong-economy university town.
ReplyDeleteIn today's announcement, the paper said that the News will be relaced by a new web-based company called annarbor.com (I believe) that will provide a web-based information site that will be "complemented" by a twice-a-week printed newspaper and a TMC.
This is scary. I agree. But it now explains things. The Ann Arbor News has been rapidly declining, both in ad revenue and news content, as well as presentation. It's as though they threw in the towel some time ago.
As Jim's repeated pleas show, there is insufficient money on the Web to support a traditional newspaper. Especially if there are greedy corporate executives taking 40 percent of the profits off the books of the local papers to line their pockets.
ReplyDeleteIn essence, they're keeping the printed product up and running (yes, drastically cutting it back) but it's not like they're selling off the presses. It's conceivable that when the economy turns around and local advertising dollars start pouring back into newsprint, they could return to dailies.
ReplyDeleteWould the Newhouse and Hearst families ever fathom the notion of a merger?
ReplyDeleteThis story, and the one on E&P and the CNN homepage are not correct. They are NOT closing, but cutting back to two days printed per week, other days online. In essence, they are becoming a twice weekly. No reason to keep pushing only bad news, when some papers need to re-invent themselves to do business. That is probably the best business model for them anyway.
ReplyDelete12:26 pm - I think you are incorrect, Ann Arbor is not going to print twice weekly - here is the link http://tinyurl.com/dcpfw5.
ReplyDelete"It's conceivable that when the economy turns around and local advertising dollars start pouring back into newsprint, they could return to dailies."
ReplyDeleteThis is a joke, right? The economy will eventually turn around, but those ad dollars aren't going back to print. Ever.
Ann Arbor will be printing a twice-weekly newspaper, but it will NOT be the Ann Arbor News. As announced today, the Ann Arbor News will cease publication in July. A new company, AnnArbor.com will produce the web site and the newspaper. Those print journalists who work for the Ann Arbor News will no longer have a job, although they can apply to the new publication...no guarantee they will be hired and certainly not as many positions.
ReplyDeleteHere's more evidence of how the Ann Arbor News print edition gave up the ghost long ago. Regular readers -- and they were dwindling rapidly -- have noticed a dramatic drop in quality and quantity of news coverage.
ReplyDeleteBut yesterday (Monday), the Ann Arbor News (an afternoon newspaper) carried not a single word of the biggest story in its soon to conclude history. That's right. It failed to cover the news that it will cease publication in July.
The story was on its mlive web site early Monday morning, in plenty of time for its late morning deadline...particularly when you consider that it was Ann Arbor News choice as to when the story broke...it wasn't at all scooped by anyone else. In fact other news web sites -- including freep.com and detnews.com -- reported it only after it appeared on Ann Arbor web site. So all sorts of surrounding newspapers -- in Detroit, Oakland County, Livingston County, Lansing -- carried the story Tuesday morning before it ever appears in the Ann Arbor News..assuming it will be covered in the News this afternoon.
Amazing. They didn't even consider their own demise to be a newsworthy event. Once they decided to give up, they chose to go the route of unconditional surrender.
It makes you wonder how many other stories they punted on. It's big news that the Ann Arbor News will quit publishing. But it hasn't been a real newspaper for a long time.