How 'Daily' Will Daily Newspapers Stay?

-- Caitlin Johnston, a graduate student at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, asked that question in Will Dailies Stay Daily?, published November 22, 2011 by the American Journalism Review.

Johnston cited several newspapers -- such as the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News -- that have attempted to eliminate editions that might not generate enough ad revenue.

Three years after cutting home delivery of both newspapers to three days a week, while making thinner editions available at newsstands on the other four days, Paul Anger, editor and publisher of the Gannett Company, Inc.-owned Free Press, seems to be pleased with the new strategy:

"Basically, what's happened since then is that we have been pretty successful," Anger says. "We have, I believe, outperformed industry trends in terms of circulation, and our Web traffic has gone up."

Anger hastens to add that less-than-daily might not be the answer for everybody. "Each market is different," he says. "It would not be appropriate at this time for some markets in the country, but it was appropriate for us. And I'm surprised that it hasn't been adopted elsewhere in markets that have similar situations that we have.""

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