Ann Arbor News going to mostly web

[budcrew08]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090723/ap_on_re_us/us_ann_arbor_news_goodbye

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Geoff Larcom has covered higher education, written columns and led sports coverage at The Ann Arbor News. His final assignment: the newspaper's own obituary after 174 years.

The only daily newspaper in this college town — daily circulation 45,000 — is rolling off the presses for the last time on Thursday and going out of business. It is being replaced by AnnArbor.com, an online news site that will produce a print edition twice a week, on Thursday and Sunday.

"This will be our last edition. Farewell Ann Arbor. Hugs all around," said Larcom, 51, when asked what the opening paragraphs of his story are likely to say.

Ann Arbor, 45 miles west of Detroit, is home to the University of Michigan, a highly educated population and a relatively stable economy. But the News, like other newspapers, says it has been losing money as advertisers abandon print and readers seek information online or elsewhere. Daily papers in Seattle and Denver have closed this year and many others have reduced their print editions.

 

[Football_Bat]

Goes back to a thread on the journo board, but proof positive that being a college town paper is no longer a guarantee of survival. Starkville and Stillwater, you are officially on notice.

 

[mustangj17]

You forgot to mention how they screwed the pooch on this one and the site is going to launch, I believe, four days late.

The site isn't ready for some reason or another.

 

[crusoes]

Regardless, it's a sad day for those of us who worked there and have so many memories of good times and great people. It was a privilege to work there.

 

[slappy4428]

Title is wrong. Ann Arbor News is done after today. A new online first entity quite separate and distinct from the News begins tomorrow.
And I'll partly agree with Crusoes. Twas the best of times and worst of times.

 

[Twinkilling]

the curse of mark heller.

 

[crusoes]

To each his own, Slap.

 

[slappy4428]

To each his own, Slap.

Indeed

 

[HejiraHenry]

I guess now I'm glad I didn't get the SE's job back in the day.

 

[slappy4428]

I guess now I'm glad I didn't get the SE's job back in the day.

I can think of two other members of this board who feel the same way, except back in the day wasn't so far back.

 

[hwkcrz1]

Some of the better stories I've read were this paper's in-depth coverage of the academic issues involving athletes at Michigan.

 

[Drip]

http://www.freep.com/article/20090723/NEWS06/90723018/1001/NEWS/Ann-Arbor-News-prints-its-last
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003996803
Pick one. Both sad stories.

 

[Jim Knight]

mustang: The site is ready. AnnArbor.com will launch Friday. We delayed the launch a few days to stress test the system. No pooches were violated. Once we delayed for a day, it made sense to give The Ann Arbor News room to tell its story. A rough last few days for all who still worked there, and today's edition is a keeper.

 

[Moderator1]

If you get a chance to send me one, I'd love you more than I already do.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Regardless, it's a sad day for those of us who worked there and have so many memories of good times and great people. It was a privilege to work there.

Agreed. It's been a long time since I was there and you still feel an emptiness with this news.


And to the original poster, this really isn't new news, since it's been known that it was closing for a couple months now. This was just the actual end date.

 

[Jim Knight]

Moddy: Consider it done.

 

[Mark]

How did I curse the Ann Arbor News?

 

[I Should Coco]

From the AP story, this is the quote that haunts me:

"The seven-day-a-week print model just is not sustainable here," News publisher Laurel Champion said. "We have very low home ownership. The population is transient and young. Those demographics have worked against us."

My argument always has been: Someday, those young, transient apartment dwellers will get married, have children, and purchase a home. When they do, they'll want news about their community, their schools that only a local newspaper can provide. (And let's be honest here ... a lot of this watchdog-type journalism doesn't translate at all to a Web site)

I guess for the sake of many of our careers, I hope I'm right.

 

[Jim_Carty]

Within the last 36 months, Laurel Champion sat in a room with myself and other staffers and emphatically insisted the paper was still profitable. Now, she insists the paper has been bleeding red ink for years.

I'd just like to know when she was lying.

 

[slappy4428]

When her lips moved? (Sorry, he hung a curve)