New publication/distribution model preserves both newspapers; sports still plays a vital role
Change. It’s an overused word.
In our business, it’s a word that brings concern, trepidation and uncertainty.
At The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, it’s a word that can be interchanged wholeheartedly with future.
Change is our future, in no uncertain terms.
On March 30, The News and Free Press ventured into a new world of change – we publish every day, but no longer deliver our newspaper seven days a week.
People always had enjoyed walking out in their bathrobe, picking up their morning paper from the driveway and sitting down for a cup of coffee with their newspaper.
Now, readers in Michigan who subscribe to The News or Free Press only get that opportunity Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays (Free Press only). The rest of the time, readers must pick up their News or Free Press at more than 18,000 retail outlets, newsstands or coin boxes.
"Everyone knows that big city newspapers are under enormous pressure from the current advertising slump," said Jon Wolman, Editor and Publisher of The Detroit News. "We wanted to take action that would preserve the vigorous news coverage that powers the daily paper and our digital sites, and we worked hard to innovate so that readers would embrace the improvements."
Unconventional? Crazy?
It’s neither. It’s survival.
The Detroit Media Partnership, which runs the business operations of The News and Free Press under a joint operating agreement, determined that the best way for Detroit to ensure the survival of two independent newsrooms remain a two-paper town – with two distinct voices – was to take these necessary steps.
But what does this all mean?
Well, it means not only do we remain in the print business, but that we also are offering our readers – present and future – news over various media platforms. Besides our Web site (detnews.com), The News offers 1) the E-Edition (see example below), which allows readers to view the actual newspaper on their computers – ads and all – and even print out stories from there; 2) a mobile edition; 3) and the Kindle and Plastic Logic platforms – both to be offered later this year. We also have a number of newsletters and e-mail blasts from our Web sites and from the company that show our special promotions, our news coverage and how we’re presenting it.
We’re depending on readers to change their habits. No longer could we afford to deliver the news every day via home delivery. The transportation costs were just too expensive.
What about the news itself? Does it suffer?
No it doesn’t. In addition to the delivery change, we’ve had to reinvent ourselves – again.
On non-delivery home days, our print product – we call it an Express edition – is a smaller version, running 28-34 pages in its entirety. But on home delivery days, we come back with a Sunday-like paper Thursday (seven sections), and a four-section paper Friday.
View some recent PDFs: April 21 | April 22 | April 23
So, how does that affect Sports?
It affects us big time. While we took a 25 percent cut in space – the lightest-hit department – it doesn’t mean we’re living high on the hog (Tuesdays, for example, we have roughly 18-21 columns).
We had to make some critical decisions.
■ We remain focused on our core sports – Lions, Red Wings, Pistons, Tigers, Michigan and Michigan State. We must, however, make choices every day as to what gets in –columns, gamers notes, features – and what doesn’t.
■ Taking a hit – in print – were high schools, small colleges, national brief items and agate. Yes, all agate except for league standings and scores, the line and local box scores/summaries have a home only on the Web. National news of note either makes its way into the print product in a truncated fashion or in a briefs rail on the Sports cover.
■ Story lengths … nothing over 15 inches unless it’s warranted. It seems like a silly rule we’ve instituted, but it’s necessary to assure readers everything important to them.
■ We’ve added features – outdoors, a weekend planner, local team-specific insider reports, a women’s sports report and daily page 2 columns. They are features that can help us attract new readers to the single-copy world.
■ We have two sections in the Express edition – an A section that includes News, Editorial, Metro, and Features, and a second B section with Sports as the cover every day, followed by Business (The Free Press has one section with Sports inside).
But in the end, all this change still leads to one thing: We remain committed to comprehensive, valuable and compelling journalism.
That has not changed. It is our livelihood and our passion to keep alive all the things newspapers have strived to be throughout the years.
