Weekend print changes start this week
The State is changing to meet the needs of our readers and help preserve our future.
For decades, we gave away our product at a fraction of its value because advertising paid the freight. But our advertising revenue has cratered from the days when a market was just a newspaper and a couple of television stations. Now options abound and many advertisers crave niche options that target certain age and gender groups. Others have found they can reach you through their own websites or email lists.
Like any business, we’ve had to adjust. We’ve raised prices to ask you to pay closer to what it costs to produce and deliver an actual printed newspaper, and we’ve cut expenses to keep those subscription rates at a level that represents value.
This week we adjust again. As we announced a few months ago, we will stop printing and delivering a Saturday edition, beginning this week. This doesn’t mean we’ll be producing less local content, and it doesn’t mean there won’t be a full e-edition online. But it does mean we are taking another step in our digital shift, and it’s a decision made to preserve our future.
We will, however, continue to get your favorite features to you in print. Both the Friday and Sunday editions will get larger to accommodate the puzzles, comics and TV listings that would normally appear on Saturdays. Every obituary also will appear in a print edition.
We will continue to publish a full Saturday e-edition. If you have not checked out the e-edition yet, I highly encourage you to do so. Because it doesn’t carry the production costs of ink, paper and press runs, we are able to bring you dozens of extra pages each day in the daily e-edition, including late sports news and national news and features content. As an example, the Clemson football championship game ended too late to make many of our next day’s print editions, but the e-edition had nine pages of coverage.
On the content side, we will continue to focus on watchdog journalism, like our recent exclusive on how state lawmakers have been secretly funding pet projects through the state budget. Long-time favorites John Monk and Sammy Fretwell continue to bring you stories you can only get from The State, and our hallmark state government and Gamecock reporting teams remain must-reads for those interested in two of our core readership bases.
These are difficult times for the newspaper industry, and your subscription is helping us with our mission to deliver journalism you value and deserve. More than ever, we need your investment in our work. So many of you have supported The State for years, and I cannot thank you enough for that.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns related to the new delivery method, please give us a call at 800-888-3566 or email us at customerservice@thestate.com. We will do everything possible to ensure your satisfaction.
Brian Tolley is executive editor of The State newspaper.