Newspapers are dying slow deaths of a thousand small cuts. Here’s the latest from the Richmond Times-Dispatch…
According to Executive Editor Chris Coates, beginning July 4, the RTD will switch to a “digital-only format” on the following holidays: Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day and Memorial Day.
Translation, the RTD will stop publishing its print newspaper on nine major holidays.
I’m surprised he left off Juneteenth.
Coates could have mentioned that the RTD will be in good company. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t publish on holidays either. Not even Juneteenth. It doesn’t publish Sundays either. I wonder if that’s the next step for the RTD.
But, hey, as Coates noted, you’ll still get the news. “The printed newspaper is just one piece in a portfolio that includes our website, mobile app, video, multimedia, social media and events.” He didn’t announce any fresh newsroom cuts. At least for now.
Then, getting to what’s really important to print subscribers, Coates closed: “For those who enjoy our comics and puzzles, we’ll be printing the ones that would normally appear in the July 4 edition a day earlier with the July 3 comics and puzzles, so you won’t miss any.”
— JAB