Cleveland, OH Paper to Scale Back to 3 Days Per Week Home Delivery

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest newspaper, has announced that while it will continue to print editions every day, it will cut home delivery from a seven-day-a-week schedule to but three for subscribers.

No exact date for implementation of the new delivery schedule was announced, but the change will come later this summer.

The delivery schedule change is part of a larger reorganization and coincides with the creation of a new company, the Northeast Ohio Media Group, which will oversee the print edition as well as its growing online content.

The paper will be delivered on Sundays and two other days not yet named.

Plain Dealer Editor Debra Adams Simmons told newsroom staffers that the paper will still be the largest news-gathering organization in the state. “I think we’re still positioned to do quality work. I think we’re in a good place,” she said.

“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,” publisher Terry Egger said in a statement.

Newsroom staffers are obviously worried about the near future as in many other cases when a newspaper is reorganized with an eye toward more online content jobs are cut. As for the Plain Dealer, layoffs are still imminent and will likely occur later in the summer.

John Mangels, a reporter and employee representative for the Plain Dealer, still fears the danger signs that lie ahead.

Speaking of the impending layoffs, Mangels said, “That can’t help but have a negative effect on news coverage.”

The Northeast Ohio Media Group will also take control of Cleveland.com and The Sun News, the latter of which will publish each Thursday for home delivery.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a circulation of 286,400 and is owned by New York-based Advance Publications Inc. which also owns the Times-Picayune of New Orleans and The Birmingham News in Alabama.