detroit_sky

Foreclosures are pinching pockets and telling adversely on newspaper sales. The newspaper lying on the porches and driveways of Michigan homes is no longer a familiar sight.

In trying to see to the survival of the newspaper in this digital era the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press have cut down home delivery services to only three days per week – the days that advertisers love – Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The editions have been slimmed down but the prices are the same. These will be available from newsvendors and ordinary shops on the other four days.

By taking this step the publishers of Detroit hope they will be able to significantly cut costs without cutting down on newsroom staff. The recession has increased losses because the numbers of advertisements have dwindled over the past twelve months. Michigan has especially been mauled by unemployment and foreclosures emanating from the collapse of the automobile industry.

In the last one-year over 80 newspapers across USA in the more modest markets, have dropped one publication day. Last week the Christian Science Monitor published its last edition. Others have met the same fate in Maryland, Oregon, Tennessee and Wisconsin. They have cut down on frequency of publications. Of these a limited number have gone online. Detroit is trying to experiment with the hybrid trick – it is continuing with daily publications but reducing the days of home delivery.

The newspaper industry is hopeful that by maintaining the legacy of print and raking in lower profits by cutting down on production and delivery they will be able to continue with their staff, survive this downturn to resurface again as a timeless heritage by hooking on to more profitable avenues of expression like the Internet, mobile phones and other similar gadgets.

To do so they are expediting operations in changing from the print to the digital technology. By doing so they are of course taking a risk according to media analyst Ken Doctor. The biggest causality will be the risk of breaking the newspaper habits of clients. If the readers realize that they can get through without having the newspaper on their doorsteps four days a week they might decide to opt out of the other three days. This would lead to a drop in circulation and with it the revenue coming from advertisements would also suffer.

Michigan Foreclosures for Sale by Top Cities

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