Beginning June 10, the Juneau Empire will no longer offer a printed edition on Mondays.
Announcements like these are typically paired with statements about how tough the newspaper industry is these days. Sure, it’s no cake walk, but to be honest, we’re making this decision based on how most of Juneau has decided to read the news.
Overall, the Empire’s readership is in a state of steady growth, enough so that when subscription numbers come in, we are often humbled by the support we receive from the community.
Those numbers also give us a chance to think about how we deliver the news, and through them we have noticed a pattern: While Monday’s print sales have remained stagnant, readership of juneauempire.com often peaks for the entire week.
As such, we want to spend a few more staff hours offering a robust digital product when you, our customers, demand it the most. We are committed to remaining a 24/7 newsroom.
Capital City Weekly
We currently distribute the Capital City Weekly to nearly every community in Southeast Alaska. That made sense when its pages contained news of general interest to those in the outlying villages and communities.
In the past year, however, the paper has been retooled to focus primarily on Juneau-specific arts and culture events.
Here in Juneau, we’ve run into the best kind of problem. Editor Emily Miller and reporter Ben Hohenstatt are creating a product of such quality that we find the Capital City Weekly often competes with the Juneau Empire for people’s attention.
To provide more value to our subscribers, we’ve decided to combine the two products. June 5 will be the last standalone, widely distributed edition of the Capital City Weekly. Following that, it will appear each week in Thursday’s edition of the Empire. The paper will continue to provide previews of the weekend’s events, as well as coverage of Juneau’s vibrant arts scene.
Thank you so much for supporting the Juneau Empire, your local newspaper. We believe these changes will allow us to better serve you in the future.
Thinking about subscribing? Go to juneauempire.com/subscribe/. Online subscriptions start at $9.95 a month. That’s cheaper than Netflix!
• Robert Monteith is the general manager of the Juneau Empire and Capital City Weekly. Contact him at (907)523-2253.
Robert Monteith, general manager of the Juneau Empire and Capital City Weekly.
