Another Newspaper Closes

Jesse Walker | March 23, 2009

Media pundits have been predicting that the newspaper recession won't end with two-daily towns becoming one-daily towns -- soon we'll see one-daily towns become no-daily towns. That fate hasn't befallen a big city yet, but it'll hit a mid-sized municipality in July, when Michigan's 174-year-old Ann Arbor News closes down:

The Ann Arbor News will close in July after publishing as the city's daily newspaper since 1835, publisher Laurel Champion announced today.

Heavy losses in revenue drove the decision. Champion said the current "business model is not sustainable."...

A new Web-based media company called AnnArbor.com LLC will be launched later this year. In addition to publishing continuously online, AnnArbor.com will publish a print edition twice a week.

I suppose the town still has the student-run Michigan Daily but, speaking as a former Daily staffer, I don't think that counts.

Bonus links: For an optimistic take on the future of journalism as newspapers disappear, go here. For a pessimistic take, go here. For my take -- or part of it, anyway -- go here.

Update: Elsewhere in Michigan, three other papers owned by the Booth media company are changing their schedules so they no longer appear every day. And it looks like the old Daily's facing financial troubles, too.

Comments

Jeff P|3.23.09 @ 12:33PM|#

Where will I get my news of Bob Seger sightings now?

EJM|3.23.09 @ 12:38PM|#

Considering that it's one of many papers that Advance Publications owns throughout Michigan (as part of its Booth subsidiary), I wonder if some of the others may also close.

|3.23.09 @ 12:39PM|#

These closings will be a welcome boon to the puppy training pad manufacturers.

|3.23.09 @ 12:43PM|#

What will the wrap fish in? Just plain paper and plastic like other meats?

Tree|3.23.09 @ 12:44PM|#

It's about fucking time! Shut them all down, for the life of me and my children.

jtuf|3.23.09 @ 12:44PM|#

Well, this should save plenty of trees. I would like a paper that had just the summaries of its online articles and no advertisements. It would be quicker to skim and navigate than a website, it wouldn't use much paper and it would let me know ahead of time whether or not it's worth checking the website for more detailed articles.

Dello|3.23.09 @ 12:44PM|#

The small town that thinks its a big city, Seattle, isn't far behind.

TofuSushi|3.23.09 @ 12:45PM|#

Is this oneo fo those papers that needs to close or is it like the New York Times and realy needs funding to keep balance in the news?

EJM|3.23.09 @ 1:01PM|#

On a semi-related note, there's a good NYT feature today concerning GlobalPost, which is using a "three-pronged business model" (as a related Editors Weblog post puts it) of basic (i.e., free), ad-supported content; a separate, paid-subscription section; and syndication to newspapers.

Basically, if that approach doesn't work, it may be back to the drawing board for a lot of folks.

Andrew Sargus Klein|3.23.09 @ 1:09PM|#

Not sure when you worked on the ol' Daily rag, but when I left it a few years ago it was mopping the floor with the News and the Observer.

Taktix®|3.23.09 @ 1:14PM|#

The small town that thinks its a big city, Seattle, isn't far behind.

Why don't they just start a hippie co-op? They could grow the trees, organically mind you, and put out the paper themselves.

They may have to wait a few years, but hey, as log as it's good for the environment, I'm sure they wouldn't mind....

Jesse Walker|3.23.09 @ 1:14PM|#

Not sure when you worked on the ol' Daily rag, but when I left it a few years ago it was mopping the floor with the News and the Observer.

Boy, but the Observer has gone downhill. When I was an undergrad (1988-91) it was really meaty. Now...well, the listings are useful, and there are some decent short reviews. But there's rarely any reason to read the longer articles that used to be the heart of the publication.

TofuSushi|3.23.09 @ 1:18PM|#

as log as it's good for the environment,

I like!

EJM|3.23.09 @ 1:22PM|#

It turns out that Booth is also cutting its Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City papers' print runs to three days per week, while there also appears to be some (further) consolidation at Booth's West Michigan papers.

BakedPatchouli|3.23.09 @ 1:26PM|#

They could grow the trees, organically mind you, and put out the paper themselves.

You mean grow sustainable hemp, I hope. You monster.

TofuSushi|3.23.09 @ 1:29PM|#

BakedP,

Of course. Hemp newspapers would last forever and they are enviromentally friendly.

Andrew Sargus Klein|3.23.09 @ 1:30PM|#

Boy, but the Observer has gone downhill. When I was an undergrad (1988-91) it was really meaty. Now...well, the listings are useful, and there are some decent short reviews. But there's rarely any reason to read the longer articles that used to be the heart of the publication.

The Observer was pretty useless when I was in Ann Arbor, the News a little better. Metro Times, the city paper out of Detroit, was/is a much better pub.

|3.23.09 @ 1:40PM|#

Published February 8, 2009 CFR Website

Speaker: James L. Jones



U.S. National Security Adviser Jones gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 8, 2009.

"Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through Generaal Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today."

This is pretty important news. Kissinger is directing the intelligence agencies. Besides the conspiracy nuts, who thought that this was so?

Jesse Walker|3.23.09 @ 1:51PM|#

Thanks, EJM. I just added an update.

|3.23.09 @ 1:54PM|#

Until newspapers can be bothered to break news stories like the Kissinger story and then possibly add some decent commentary, I wil refuse to buy the operation mockingbird fronts.

Kreel Sarloo|3.23.09 @ 2:11PM|#

Gabe,

Most people know a joke when they see one.

Yes, wingnuts like you and the others at infowars are the butt of jokes at get togethers of the CFR. Funny, ain't it?

Paul|3.23.09 @ 2:17PM|#

If a newspaper has no readers, does anyone notice when it goes down?

stuartl|3.23.09 @ 2:19PM|#

Hmmm. Do you think there is any connection about the ad on the side being about yellow teeth and the subject being newspapers? It might be a good indicator of how long the newspapers will be around.

Bring back the posts on Russia.

jtuf|3.23.09 @ 2:22PM|#

On a happy note, my subscription to the Jerusalem Post just arrived.

Seer|3.23.09 @ 2:30PM|#

Boy that loss to Oklahoma really hit Ann Arbor hard.

Go green

roystgnr|3.23.09 @ 2:32PM|#

Most people know a joke when they see one.

Yes, and most people also know that the line is less binary than "100% joke" vs. "unexaggerated fact". For instance, the previous sentence in the CFR article, where one of the men behind the secret bombing of Cambodia was given "a wonderful tribute" after receiving an award for his contributions to global peace and cooperation? That one was much closer to the "fact" side of the scale.

Kissinger was given the "Ewald von Kleist" award, which ironically was named after someone who had the balls to try to assassinate a genocidal dictator. I guess they had just run out of "We will understand and will not press you on the issue" awards.

Reasonable|3.23.09 @ 2:51PM|#

Close them all. They're about 10% news, 90% advocacy for larger and more restrictive government.

stuartl|3.23.09 @ 10:37PM|#

Okay, now the ad on the right is for anti-aging, anti-wrinkling secrets. This automated ad selection is too funny.