Journals Reduces Issues

Journal Newspapers Reduces Issues, Cuts Monday Edition

The Journal Newspapers, which publishes the Montgomery and Prince George’s Journals in Maryland, changed its publication schedule this month, eliminating Monday editions of the newspaper. Starting on Sept. 10 it began publishing its six papers five days a week, Tuesday through Friday and Sunday.

In addition to the Maryland newspapers, four in Virginia – The Fairfax Journal, Arlington Journal, Alexandria Journal and The Daily Journal in Prince William County – are affected by the change. The combined daily circulation of the six newspapers is 145,000.

Journal Newspapers said cutting the Monday edition is part of an austerity plan to maintain overall health of the company. According to a company press release, the change is a response to the current economic conditions and the struggle of Monday editions to reach acceptable revenue and readership levels.

"It’s primarily a financial situation," said David Farmer, executive editor of the Journals. "The Monday paper has not been profitable since the economy turned down."

Earlier this year, The Journal Newspapers laid off some of its employees, including some editorial staff members.

"We’re trying to do too much," said Alan Porter, the company’s chief operating officer. "By returning to a five-day publication schedule, we can move our resources around to better serve the communities we cover."

As part of the change, the amount of daily, local news in The Journal Newspapers will be increased and the number of news pages will be expanded, the company said. All subscriptions will be extended to make up for the loss of the Monday papers.

"They would be the first daily newspaper I know of that doesn’t publish on a Monday," said Larry Grimes, president of WB Grimes & Co., a Gaithersburg investment-banking firm that specializes in the media industry. "It means they are having some pretty serious financial problems."