Printed newspaper headed for museum?

GateHouse denies a Poynter report that the print edition of USA Today, a staple in America for four decades because it is printed in locations all over the country simultaneously, will be phased out.

Gannett owns USA Today. GateHouse, which seemingly controls about every newspaper south of the New York Times and Washington Post in America, is absorbing Gannett with the help of a $1.8 billion loan.

This spring at larger circulation regionals, Gannett dropped a standalone section of USA Today news at its 35 largest papers, eliminating hundreds of thousands of print copies.

USA Today circulation has plummeted from 2.3 million in 2007, rivaling the Wall Street Journal in paid circulation, to 178,00 in individually paid circulation.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer went all-digital in 2009. Papers all over America are going to less than 7-day print editions.

GateHouse websites are loaded with discussions of how switching to digital is saving millions of dollars.

Who really believes that USA Today and GateHouse, which owns the BJ and more than 250 newspapers and hundreds of weeklys in at least 32 states, will stick with print editions instead of transforming everything into digital editions?

Save your print editions of the BJ. They may become rarer than 1950s baseball cards.

To read the article, click on

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2019/is-usa-todays-print-edition-headed-for-the-sunset-as-gatehouse-and-gannett-merge-signs-point-to-yes/?fbclid=IwAR3I1fSRIMdylDu8MiITsjbPSkW7tlbMhQMmipJzQThTwo2wZ3p9NpkFJHE