ACG Media

Frederick Gazette Ceases Publishing

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:06:00 GMT

The Frederick Gazette, a free weekly publication covering Frederick County, Maryland, announced it will cease publishing after its Thursday, May 16th, 2013 edition.

Northeast Ledger Closes

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:25:47 GMT

The Clarion Ledger Media Group has ceased publishing the Northeast Ledger. The circulation was absorbed by the Hinds Ledger.

Suburban Journals Closes Two Publications

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:19:04 GMT

Suburban Journals has announced that the Suburban Journal West and the Suburbuan Journal South will cease publishing after their Wednesday, May 15th edition. The two St. Charles Journal editions, along with the Granite City Press Record and Collinsville Herald will remain active.

West End News

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:21:15 GMT

The West End News, a community publication in Maine, ceased its print edition in September 2012. The paper is still available online.

Harpswell Anchor Ceased Publishing

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:18:19 GMT

The Harpswell Anchor, a local Maine community newspaper, closed in September 2012.

Island Times To Close

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:31:25 GMT

The Island Times, a monthly publication, covering Peaks Island and other islands in the Portland area, announced it was ceasing publication this month. The Island Times has been around for ten years.

Beaverton Leader to Launch in May

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:38:15 GMT

The Oregonian announced that it will be launching the Beaverton Leader, a free weekly publication, in May of 2013. The Beaverton Leader will be distributed on Wednesdays to 90,000 homes, including subscribers of the Oregonian.

In conjunction with this move, the Hillsboro Argus will shift its distribution days from Tuesday and Friday to Wednesday and Friday.

Douglas County Sentinel Changes Distribution Days

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:51:26 GMT

The Douglas County Sentinel changed its distribution days effective March 24th, 2013. The Sentinel switched from daily distribution to three times a week with distribution on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The Sentinel also discontinued its TMC product the Super Sentinel that same date.

Rhinoceros Times Closes

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:50:16 GMT

The Rhinoceros Times has announced it is ceasing publishing in May 2013. The Rhinoceros Times is a weekly publication in the Greensboro, North Carolina area with Tuesday distribution.

Circulation Audit Methods Continue to Evolve

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:23:35 GMT

From Poynter this week, Daily newspaper circulation totals 'do not capture the full story' anymore, a thorough reporting and discussion of the move to change reporting metrics by The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly the Audit Bureau of Circulations). AAM has been slowly overhauling its' ancient methods of counting print circulation for newspapers and magazines, the organization name no longer contains the word "circulation" anymore. This latest change was motivated by Advance Publications (publisher of many 3x week "dailies") and likely others who no longer see value in the five-day average reports.

AAM is trying to change with the times, keeping up with newer advertising buying models and publishing patterns that are emerging. They've already incorporated digital metrics into their product menu and will no doubt follow this path despite some immediate criticism and the fact that the reports may become less uniform and require additional training to understand.

El Informador Closes

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:45:14 GMT

The hispanic publication El Informador, covering Dalton, Georgia, closed on April 24th, 2013.

Webster Patriot to Close

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:56:30 GMT

The Webster Patriot will cease publishing after its May 8th, 2013 edition. The free weekly has been in business for approximately 40 years covering the Webster, Massachusetts area.

Holmes County Hub to Close

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:26:57 GMT

Dix Communications has announced that the Holmes County Hub, covering Millersburg, Ohio and nearby areas, will cease publishing September 1st, 2013.

Jewish Chronicle to Close

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:53:08 GMT

The Jewish Chronicle, covering central Massachusetts, has announced that it will cease publishing in June 2013. The publication has been around since 1926.

Canadian Jewish News to Close

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:29:48 GMT

The Canadian Jewish News has announced it will cease publishing after its June 20th, 2013 edition.

Rockford Labor News Closes

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:01:06 GMT

The Rockford Labor News ceased publishing April 12th, 2013. The publication was owned by Don and Mary Brady, who are now retiring. Efforts had been made to try to sell the 101 year old publication the past two years, but to no success. The Rock River Times offers a fond farewall to the publication.

Wanderful Debuts Find & Save Digital Inserts

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:46:44 GMT

From NAA mediaXchange 2013
By Michael Depp, NetNewsCheck

The new product, dubbed Find & Save (over the earlier Find N Save iteration), was positioned as a complete overhaul of the digital FSI experience, one that Wanderful's leaders boasted had Silicon Valley thinking baked into it and a high quality user experience at its center.

"We're trying to reimagine and reinvent the circular," Ben Smith IV, Wanderful's CEO, said at the Newspaper Association of America's mediaXchange conference.

The product, which went live at 380 papers in all of the top 50 DMAs this week, is launching with a number of national advertisers in place. Wanderful is targeting the inclusion of regional merchants by September and local clients by December, Smith said.

The new Find & Save was built with the goal of being comprehensive, portable and local, three core facets of print circulars that Smith said have long made them work for consumers. With the migration of the FSI to digital, however, Smith said personalization was a key expectation for users.

Other digital tools were also brought to bear, namely mobile's portability and consumers' desire for participation via social media. Consumers' existing expectations of strong visual merchandising needed to be translated to screens. The entertaining value of the experience also had to be elevated, Smith said.

So what does that all of that look like?

Dave Thomsen, Wanderful's executive VP of product design, showed a video that toured some of the platform’s main features. The home screen hosts a vertical crawl of frames not unlike many online shopping sites or deals malls. Each frame includes a different merchant with a featured item (retailers pay for prominence according to the frames' order).

Every frame also opens into its own page of a retailer's circular items, which users can add to personal lists as a favorite or share via social media.

Users will be reminded of sales that are expiring on their favorited items on their smartphones via email or text alerts, and once the platform rolls out more geofencing capabilities, it will even notify them when they are in the vicinity of a store featured in their personal list. Those lists are also easily retrievable via smartphone.

Consumers can also shop by item category, and similar items will be served up as they browse.

Thomsen said the company also wanted to capitalize on a key shopping dynamic — that people like to be inspired by others' tastes — and so Find & Save features a section on trending community picks that makes other local wish lists discoverable to users.

But will users ever discover Find & Save itself?

That may be the new product's biggest gamble, and so far consumers have sniffed at digital efforts to translate the FSI. Wanderful's backers, comprised of a dozen publishers including A.H. Belo Corp., The McClatchy Co., GateHouse Media Inc., Cox Media Group and Lee Enterprises Inc., will ultimately need to convince a wider array of small and large publishers to embrace and market the effort with their readers if it is to become the national platform to which Smith said it aspires.

Given that inserts are a $4-5 billion annual business for newspapers, the stakes of the bet are considerable.

So how will Wanderful — and its newspaper partners — know if it's paying off? "If a local retailer wants to get someone to walk in their store, they're going to have to deal with the newspaper business," Smith said, adding that Find & Save would play a key part of a larger strategy — including advertising — to drive those bodies in. "I hope to get to the point of dominance again."

He added that the product would be iterating continuously and that iPhone and iPad apps are currently in development.

Badger Herald to Reduce to Twice Weekly Distribution

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:48:18 GMT

The Badger Herald, the independent student newspaper for the University of Wisconsin, has announced that effective September 2013, the paper will focus on its digital presence, and publish its print edition only two times a week. The Badger Herald discontinued its Friday distribution back in Novemer, 2012.

Cleveland Plain Dealer to Reduce Distribution Days

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:50:37 GMT

The Cleveland Plain Dealer announced that it was reducing the home delivery of the paper to three day a week, effective late the summer of 2013. The specific days have not yet been decided yet, but Sunday will be one of them.

Below is the contents of the official press release from the Northeast Ohio Media Group:

"CLEVELAND – April 4, 2013 – A new digitally focused media company, the Northeast Ohio Media Group, will launch this summer to help meet the rapidly changing needs of local readers and advertisers. The President of the new company will be Andrea Hogben, currently Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing at The Plain Dealer. The Northeast Ohio Media Group will be responsible for all ad sales and marketing for The Plain Dealer and oversee the operation of Cleveland.com and Sun News. The Northeast Ohio Media Group and The Plain Dealer Publishing Company will provide content for all print and digital platforms.

Also seeking to address rapid changes in the way people can and want to receive news and information, The Plain Dealer Publishing Company will adopt a new home delivery schedule for its newspaper. Beginning late this summer, The Plain Dealer will continue to be published in print seven days a week, readily available at thousands of outlets throughout Northeast Ohio, with home delivery offered three days a week, including Sunday. All 3-day home delivery subscriptions will include access to the 7-day e-edition.

The Plain Dealer Publishing Company, whichwill continue to publish The Plain Dealer, will be led by Virginia Wang as General Manager. Wang, who is currently Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Plain Dealer, will oversee production, distribution, finance, information technology, accounting and other support services provided to The Plain Dealer Publishing Company and Northeast Ohio Media Group.

These moves were announced today by Terry Egger, Plain Dealer President, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer, who will become Chairman of The Plain Dealer Publishing Company before retiring at the end of the year.

“These actions are aimed at driving innovation, capitalizing on the tremendous strengths of our existing organizations, preserving high-quality journalism and marketing solutions, and providing greater efficiency and flexibility in serving Northeast Ohio through print and digital applications,” said Egger.

Egger emphasized that while staffing decisions have not been finalized, the planning process should be completed later this summer.

“I’ll be working closely with Andrea, Virginia and our local management teams at The Plain Dealer, Sun News and Cleveland.com to finalize our plans over the coming weeks and months,” Egger added. “We’ll also be working with advertisers to discuss their needs and opportunities, and keeping readers informed and preparing them for the transition.”

Hogben said, “We are committed to delivering quality journalism and building a sustainable business in an increasingly digital era. We will continue to evolve in ways that best serve our community and meet the needs of our readers and business partners.”

Carrboro Citizen to Relaunch

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:55:29 GMT

The Carrboro Citizen, a free weekly publication, will re-open for business in August 2013. The newspaper had closed in October 2012. A group called the Friends of the Citizen has put together a plan to launch the paper.

CNHI Western New York Papers to Discontinue Tuesday Distribution

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:33:22 GMT

CNHI will be discontinuing the Tuesday editions of three of its Western New York daily newspapers, effective May 5th, 2013. The Niagara Gazette, Lockport Union Sun & Journal, and Tonawanda News will discontinue Tuesday delivery at that time.

Central Florida Advocate Closed

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:11:45 GMT

The Central Florida Advocate, an African American publication, has ceased publishing. It had a weekly free distribution of approximately 10,000. It's sister publication the Orlando Advocate remains open.

JRNN Philadelphia Papers to Merge

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:52:20 GMT

The Journal Register Newspaper Network has announced that three of its Philadelphia publications will be merging effective April 7th, 2013. The Springfield Reporter, The Valley Item, and The Phoenix will merge to form the Phoenix Reporter, and will distribute on Sundays. The new publication will have a total circulation of approximately 4,000.

Ad Buying Tech Myths Debunked

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:07:28 GMT

We've all been hearing about how ad technology was supposed to simplify the ad buying process and provide assurances for advertisers and vendors alike that there wasn't a lot of smoke-n-mirrors and other shenanigans going on behind the scenes. Here's a Digiday post from Brian Morrissey on April Fool's Day summarizing the 5 Myths of Ad Tech.

One take-away from the discussion, "There is a lot of crap that is being paid for"

Auburn Citizen To Cease Monday Distribution

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:18:32 GMT

The Auburn Citizen has announced it will cease distribution on Mondays effective April 1st, 2013. The Citizen will still distribute the remaining six days of the week.