Kari Borgen: Publisher's Notebook: The end of print icons

Oct. 1—We've come to expect the unexpected in the last few years, but several announcements in the print media world in September have surprised us. More so, it will create impacts on The Astorian readers.

The most impactful on subscribers was an email from The Arena Group, owners of Parade magazine.

Dear Valued Partner,

Today, we are announcing changes in the way we deliver our brands to our readers. We have made the difficult decision to wind down the print distribution of Parade, Relish and Spry Living, and I wanted you to hear this news from me first. Our last print issue of Parade is November 6 and we will no longer publish Relish and Spry Living after their October issues.

So October will be the last month that The Astorian carries Relish and Spry Living magazines as they will be entirely discontinued. Parade magazine will end 80-plus years of print publication in mid-November, and will no longer be an insert in Saturday's Astorian. However, Parade will continue to publish an e-edition, a digital version of the magazine, that will be carried in the e-edition of The Astorian every Saturday. The Arena Group is also offering digital content that we may choose to use online if it fits our publication goals.

Our own announcement: We will no longer produce Coast River Business Journal as a separate monthly print publication. The business news, columns and briefs will publish instead in the pages of The Astorian and Chinook Observer. CoastRiverBusinessJournal.com will be updated online with the content, and with the property transactions, building permits, health department reports and new business licenses under the "data center." The information in Coast River Business Journal will continue to be delivered to you in print through our newspapers, and online, but not as a separate section.

As the print industry continues to evolve, our focus is solidly on quality content that serves our community with accurate and credible local news and information. Our newsroom delivers that content every day through the website, app and newsletters. Three days a week that content is designed for delivery in print and in our e-edition, the digital version of our print pages. It makes sense that the business stories in Coast River Business Journal will be consolidated for inclusion in the newspaper instead of a separately created print edition so that focus is on the content, not page production.

The Astorian's subscribers receiving a print edition are now 75% of total subscriptions. As I've written previously, the number of people subscribing is growing — predominantly as digital subscriptions — as our readers recognize that the value of the newspaper is in the news, not in the paper.

The Mail Tribune in Medford announced they would no longer be printing newspapers effective at the end of September. An email to commercial print customers read, "Due to the cost to print and deliver our own newspapers, supply-chain instability and continuous cost increases, and the inevitable subscriber migration to consuming more (if not all) digital news content, we have decided to shut down our printing press as of September 29, 2022."

The Mail Tribune follows the Ashland Daily Tidings in discontinuing printing newspapers altogether, and delivering news completely online. Metro newspaper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Georgia announced that they are considering dropping from daily publication to weekly, much as the nonprofit Salt Lake Tribune is now only producing one print edition a week in favor of online delivery.

Despite the wildly increasing costs of newsprint (up 34% in the past year), supplies and challenges in workforce, we have a robust print operation in Astoria. The Astorian's commercial print operation manufactures 12 newspapers weekly, plus several monthly publications, that help to pay for our printing staff and plant. As of next week, we will add three more newspapers to our print operation, since the Newport News Times will no longer operate their print facility.

We plan to continue to print newspapers. However, as we look to our future, our focus and mission is to continually serve our readers with credible, professionally created local news and information. Delivery of that content will continue to evolve and improve as does the variety of ways to reach our audience.

If you've not yet taken the opportunity to register your subscription for digital access, please call 800-781-3214 to talk to one of our customer service staff who will be happy to walk you through the process. Take advantage of our e-edition, app and website delivery along with your print subscription.

Comments or questions? Contact me at kborgen@dailyastorian.com