Three area newspapers will soon end their Monday print editions.
Those Monday print editions will end the week of Nov. 3 for the Quad-City Times, The Dispatch-Argus and The Muscatine Journal. The electronic editions – or e-editions – of those papers, which are digital replicas of the printed version of the newspapers, will continue on Mondays. E-editions are available seven days a week for the Times and Dispatch-Argus, and six days a week for the Journal. (The Muscatine Journal does not have a Sunday edition.)
According to a story Sunday, Oct. 5, in Quad-City Times, it is the last Iowa daily newspaper to offer print editions seven days a week. The Des Moines Register and at least four other newspapers in the state offer print editions six days a week.
“The change comes as newspapers are transitioning from print to digital. Hundreds of other daily newspapers have reduced print frequency in the past 20 years. About a month ago, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the largest daily newspaper in Georgia, announced it will end print editions entirely at the end of this year and provide all content online,” Tom Martin, executive director of the Times, Dispatch-Argus and Muscatine Journal, wrote in a story that appeared in both daily newspapers Sunday, Oct. 5.
That story adds: “This change to the Monday publications allows us to focus on the products that readers are using most.”
The three area newspapers – all owned by Lee Enterprises – will not be the only publications ending Monday print editions. Davenport-based Lee Enterprises also recently announced that print editions will also end on Mondays at the St. Louis-Post Dispatch, Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, Buffalo News and Richmond Times-Dispatch effective Nov. 3. (Lee Enterprises owns 77 daily newspapers in the U.S.)
In almost identical columns, the editors of both the World-Herald and Journal Star wrote about the change and stated they will continue to produce an e-edition of the newspaper seven days a week.
“Our commitment to delivering the news has not changed. Reporters and photographers will still produce crucial community content every day, and we will alert you to breaking news as soon as it develops. …This change to the Monday publications allows us to focus on the products that readers are using the most,” both editors’ columns stated.
Previous cutbacks
Most daily newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises have already cut back print publication to either three or five days a week. Also, all Lee papers have stopped publishing on holidays.
The elimination of Monday print editions comes at a time when Lee Enterprises leadership appears to be focused on cutting expenses in its print operations.
“Lee achieved meaningful reductions in print-related expenses and corporate overhead, while reinvesting in high-growth digital areas” during the quarter, Kevin Mowbray, CEO of Lee Enterprises, said in a news release reporting the company’s third quarter financials in August.
Mr. Mowbray added in that report: “We made tremendous progress on our digital transformation in the third quarter, and we are pleased to announce we have achieved the inflection point where more than 50% of our revenue is digital. The revenue inflection point is important as it stabilizes our operating performance, making us less impacted by the print business going forward. … Our investment thesis is grounded in this transformation as we replace print revenue and margin with digital revenue and margin that are growing at a rapid clip.”
Print advertising revenue totaled $17.4 million in the third quarter, down from $18.9 million in the same period last year.
The announcement of the end of Monday print editions also comes shortly after the print operations ended at the Quad-City Times building in downtown Davenport at 500 E. Third St. The local newspapers’ main printing press at that location was retired on Tuesday, Sept. 30, and the local papers are now being printed at a Munster, Indiana, facility, which is also owned by Lee Enterprises. The papers are now being shipped from Munster to Davenport.
With the closing of print operations in Davenport, some 49 local jobs – 20 full-time and 29 part-time – were eliminated in the pressroom and production facilities.
