The announcement today that the Detroit News and Free Press will be reducing home delivery to Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays next year means Detroit will soon be the largest city in America without home delivery of a daily newspaper.
As anyone who follows this blog knows, I read the Free Press online almost every day and I pick up a copy whenever I'm back in Michigan. While the paper will still be sold at newsstands seven days a week, the new version will be stripped down. It would be foolish to think this is anything less than a first step; mark my words, these two papers will likely stop printing on at least a couple days a week within the next five years.
It's a pity because when I was a kid growing up in Michigan and first considered becoming a journalist, the Detroit Free Press seemed liked the ideal destination. I used to read our local Gannett paper cover to cover every day, but getting a copy of the Free Press seemed like a treat. Back then it was still filled with solid reporters, who held dream jobs like trashing the Lions, opining on the latest model from the Big Three or eviscerating the inept city government. I somehow always thought I might end up at the paper myself in some fashion.
Today I'm forced to accept that odds are neither of these papers will exist in their present form in a few years. While I enjoy reading the news online, it somehow lacks the authority of newsprint. It's tragic to think in the future there will be no more front pages to perfectly capture the times; that a screenshot will have to suffice. Technology is a wonderful thing, but like many others there is only so much time I can spend staring at a screen. Unfortunately for people in Detroit, that will soon be the only option.
Speak on it