Loss of print tradition

DETROIT

For the past two weeks, Detroiters have seen their city make some of the country's biggest news. But on a majority of those days, their newspapers haven't made it to their homes.

The two weeks that have featured the government restructuring of Chrysler and General Motors and the city's hosting a home-state team in the college basketball Final Four have also been the first two weeks since Detroit became the first major city in the nation not to have a hometown paper delivered seven days a week.

And some Detroiters are lamenting the loss of their morning newsprint fix.

”We all kind of feel like something is missing in our daily lives,” said Esmaralda Angott, 58, a small-business owner from the northern suburb of Commerce, Mich., and a Detroit News subscriber for 30 years.

”I know it's a sign of the times and the economics here, but a lot of us in my generation are used to getting the paper. It's hard to give up something that you are used to.”

The News and the Detroit Free Press, paired in an operating agreement as the Detroit Media Partnership, announced in December that they were scaling back daily delivery to three days a week because of dwindling revenues, delivery expenses and other costs.

Since March 30, the News and Free Press have been delivered to homes only on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. The papers do put out slimmed-down print editions on the other days, but they are only sold at stores, newsstands and street boxes. Home subscribers also have access to an electronic version of the papers on the nondelivery days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

“We're fighting for our survival,” David Hunke, Free Press publisher and Detroit Media Partnership chief executive officer, said at a news conference announcing the changes.

He noted that 63 percent of the papers' readership had access to broadband Internet and so the paper, like many across the nation, was focusing much of its resources on online content while still offering daily rack and retail sales of its print product.

Each month, about 4.2 million online readers visit the Free Press and 3.6 million view the Detroit News. By comparison, the weekday circulations are about 298,000 for the Free Press and 188,000 for the News. Together, they rank ninth on the list of top-selling U.S. daily newspapers.

Newspapers across the country have been forced to realign resources to dipping demand, many initiating massive layoffs and cutbacks with 2008 advertising revenues dipping a record 17.7 percent and online ad revenues falling 1.8 percent, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Some two-newspaper cities have lost a paper in the past year, including Denver's Rocky Mountain News and Seattle's Post-Intelligencer, while online readership at some publications continues to grow.

Detroiters, stung by the collapse of the auto industry, home foreclosures and record unemployment, said they understand the cuts given the economic climate in their area, but miss the tradition. Even on days the papers are delivered, they have noticed that the once-thick bundles are getting thinner.

“I've been reading the Free Press since I was 14,” said publicist Tina Heaton, 39, of Clarkston, Mich., as she dined at a local restaurant. “I like seeing it in the print format, knowing that the way it's organized denotes the stories of importance. I like holding the paper and watching how the ink sinks into the newsprint when I do the crosswords. You don't get that online.”

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