The Anchorage Daily News will reduce its print editions to twice weekly starting July 15, but will continue publishing an e-edition replica of the printed version six times a week, the newspaper reported Monday.
The announcement comes the same week the Peninsula Clarion, which like the Juneau Empire was purchased earlier this year by the Mississippi-based Carpenter Media Group, is reducing its print frequency to once a week instead of twice. Both the Empire and Clarion reduced their print frequency from five issues a week to two in May 2023, and no further change has been announced to the Empire’s printing schedule.
A story published by the ADN announcing its change states three jobs related to distribution of the newspaper will be lost, but staffing in other departments including the newsroom will remain the same. The story also notes website and mobile app readership accounts for more than 90% of the publication’s overall readership.
“The daily newspaper has been a beloved feature of American life for over a century,” ADN president and owner Ryan Binkley told the newspaper. “But the reality is that our growing readership has overwhelmingly shifted to our online platforms.”
The ADN story did not address subscription rates. The June 16 edition of the paper lists a rate of $15 a week for a 13-week daily subscription and $702 annual daily rate. On Monday the newspaper’s website offered a rate “as low as $4.50/week” for what was still listed as a weekday delivery option.
The Binkley family in Fairbanks was the lone bidder for the newspaper in bankruptcy court in the fall of 2017 after its former owner, Alice Rogoff, sought protection for the publication known at the time as the Anchorage Dispatch News. It was restored to its original Anchorage Daily News name by the Binkley family. That same year the newspaper reduced its print frequency to six days a week by eliminating its Saturday edition.
Monday’s announcement leaves the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Daily Sitka Sentinel, Ketchikan Daily News and Kodiak Daily Mirror as the remaining daily newspapers in Alaska.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
