Big Change Coming To Central Maine Newspapers

According to the KJ, four Maine newspapers will discontinue printing hard copy papers on Mondays.  Instead, the Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal, Morning Sentinel in Waterville and Kennebec Journal in Augusta will release digital-only versions on Mondays.

Masthead, the company that publishes the four papers, made the change in order to preserve jobs.  They money saved from not printing Monday editions will allow them to keep their newsrooms at the current size.

No jobs will be eliminated as a result of the change, but there will be a reduction in the amount of overtime hours received by printing room staff.  And, part time printing staff may see a reduction in their hours.

The biggest issue for the company will be the full week subscribers who are "print-only".  Approximately 70% of the readers of the four papers do not have access to the digital versions of the papers.  Instead of cutting the cost of a full week subscription, the company intends to do a media blitz about signing up existing subscribers for digital access through their app or website.