Salem News Cutting Some Daily Print Editions

SALEM, MA — The Salem News will stop publishing print editions on Tuesdays and Saturdays beginning next week to cut costs as it sees a massive drop in advertising revenue during the new coronavirus pandemic.

"Reducing print days provides much-needed savings in newsprint, production and delivery costs," Publisher Karen Andreas said in a note to readers.

The newspaper will continue publishing content on its Website on those days. The newspaper's Website is free to print edition subscribers. Andreas said she hoped the reduced print publication schedule would be short-lived.

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"It is my sincere hope that these changes are temporary," she said. "I am hopeful that when local businesses reopen, our advertising revenues return rapidly, allowing us to bring back robust, daily print newspapers."

Earlier this year, the Salem News moved from its longtime office in Beverly to a new office in Danvers in a cost-cutting move. The new office houses about 30 employees.

The Salem News, the Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, the Daily News of Newburyport, the Salem News and the Gloucester Daily Times, as well as several non-daily publications are part of North of Boston Media Group. North of Boston Media Group has about 300 employees.

Up until last year, the group was owned by CNHI, a newspaper holding company which operated newspapers in 21 states. In January 2019, CNHI was sold to Retirement Systems of Alabama.

The coronavirus pandemic has been particularly hard on news organizations that rely on print advertising for revenue. Nationally, newspaper chains have furloughed between 10 and 25 percent of their staffs since the pandemic began.

Last month newspaper chain Gannett cut executive salaries and began requiring employees who make more than $38,000 annually to take one week furloughs each month. In Massachusetts, Gannett owns the MetroWest Daily News, Milford Daily News, Worcester Telegram, Cape Cod Times, Patriot Ledger, and dozens of weekly newspapers.

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Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).