Fresno, Modesto Bees to cease Saturday print editions

The McClatchy papers -- like those above -- seem to be going one by one to six days a week. I think about a dozen have done so. I don't think it's based on printing sites, although I guess that could be part of it.

 

FWIW, the Merced Sun-Star, which fills a gap in McClatchy's coverage of the Valley, has always been a six-day paper (weekender on Saturday).

 

Bump!
Fresno cutting print days.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/loca...iPBkQKeCYzPbDrm0XrzCHhxKWFB2e&mibextid=NOb6eG

 

How likely will other McClatchy papers follow and how soon?

 

We have been told (by an executive in our company) that three days of print is the lowest they can go without offering a refund or lower rate to print subscribers (“you get access to the e-Edition for free”!!)

In other words, the next stop after three delivery by mail print editions is digital only.

 

Modesto and Merced going same route as Fresno.

San Luis Obispo, Bradenton, Olympia, Tacoma, State College and Biloxi going to two days a week (Wednesday/Sunday).

Bellingham and Tri-Cities (Washington) did it a few months ago.

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article287141955.html

https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article286689670.html

 

Good God. I never in my wildest dreams would have believed the newspaper industry would shrivel up and die in my lifetime.

 

Merced only briefly had a Sunday paper, in the mid-90s (it was a disaster, trust me as a desker), so except for a few weekday editions, little change.

Sacramento? It is the mother ship and there are the Kings ...

 

I want to like, but, you know ...

 

I am not familiar with the California or southeastern papers, but to see what’s left these days of the Olympia, Tacoma and especially Bellingham “daily” newspapers is very sad.

 

The line for “print is still the bulk of our revenue” is starting to cross the line of “print is the bulk of our costs” and the audience isn’t growing and never will. At this point, maintaining a print edition is less about serving subscribers than it is about running out the contracts of print advertisers.

 

What makes even less sense is that McClatchy has job postings for full-time "Presentation Editors."

McClatchy hiring Presentation Editor - Full-Time in United States | LinkedIn