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The digital Salt Lake Tribune returns to hard copy editions, The Washington Post does away with reader critiques, the McClatchy group cripples its national news gathering abilities, and GANNETT NO MORE!
The Salt Lake Tribune Returns to Print – kinda, sorta
The Salt Lake Tribune returned to print last month with a localized offshoot — The Southern Utah Tribune.
Sophie Culpepper at NiemanLab reports on the monthly freebie and on the regular SLT dropping its paywall:
On October 9, a Thursday, The Southern Utah Tribune published its first issue. The monthly, free print newspaper, identified as a “product of the Salt Lake Tribune,” was mailed to 40,000 homes and businesses across Washington County (population just over 200,000), the fast-growing southwest corner of the state in what’s known as red rock country. Beyond an array of news stories, its index points readers to a calendar, obituaries, puzzles, sports, and a “voices” opinion section.
The first issue carries no comics or even a Pat Bagley editorial cartoon. It does carry two Sunday Jumbles.
The offshoot will compete with the weekly, and not-free, Southern Utah News.
Washington Post Dismisses “Free For All”
Mike Rhode at Comics DC calls our attention to another Washington Post feature being cut, this one ridding the newspaper of readers’ unfavorable reactions to various WaPo items that appeared in the paper:
After at least 33 years, The Washington Post appears to have dropped its Free for All letters page that ran on Saturdays. I think they’ve been gone for a month now, but that needs to be confirmed.
This is of interest to us because it was the major source for letters about the comic strips and editorial cartoons that the Post runs.
Mike ran the letters about comics and editoons under the tag “That Darn…” (scroll past that first item).
Mariane Angela for (the right wing) Daily Caller reported on The WaPo ridding itself of Free For All and journalists on Friday October 3, 2025 — so did the Saturday October 4 edition carry Free For All?
“WashPost Opinions Editor Adam O’Neal has laid off all the copy editors in the Opinions section. This is likely to lead to increase in typos and errors of both grammar and fact. Copy editors in News sections are not affected (yet), but their numbers have been reduced previously,” McCartney said.
“Other changes in Post Opinions makeover: The Saturday feature ‘Free for All,’ a full page of readers’ letters slamming (or praising) the paper, has been killed. And columnist Marc Fisher was let go—meaning there’s no columnist in Opinion section following local news.”
McClatchy “Guts” National News Operation
Editor and Publisher passes on Oliver Darcy’s report of major cuts to the McClatchy group’s news gathering:
On Monday morning, staffers across McClatchy’s real-time news desk received an unexpected invitation to a hastily arranged Zoom meeting at noon. The calendar invite was vague…
When the journalists on the nearly two dozen-strong team joined the call, they were hit with stunning news: McClatchy was eliminating the entire real-time news operation, which effectively operated as its national breaking news desk. The announcement left the team reeling. Their employment, they were told, would end on November 14.
Marty Merzer at the Knight Ridder Alumni Facebook page carries more of Darcy’s news:
McClatchy, the 168-year-old newspaper chain, has gutted its national news operation—another reminder of how once-towering (sic) newspaper giants are struggling to survive.
The real-time desk wasn’t the only casualty in the latest round of layoffs sweeping through the storied newspaper company behind The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee, and Charlotte Observer, affecting dozens of employees. Status has learned that McClatchy also informed its Washington, D.C.-based team that it’s bureau will be shuttered. The move means the company will no longer employ reporters dedicated to covering Congress and the White House and withdraw from the White House pool where it has been a longtime member. Elsewhere in the organization, the audience engagement team was also hit, though the extent of those cuts remains unclear…
Marty was rather dismissive of the McClatchy operation before the cuts:
Just in: McClatchy closes its Washington bureau, eliminates its real-time national news operation, etc.
Truth be told, McClatchy never was a top player. When it bought Knight Ridder, it was like the Los Angeles Angels buying the New York Yankees. Mismanaged and overmatched from the moment it bought KR, McClatchy’s serial cutbacks, layoffs, foreign bureau closings, bankruptcy filings, pension failures, and so on were easily predictable.
It also slowly undermined KR’s top-notch Washington bureau…
Gannett No More
No, the largest newspaper group hasn’t written -30- to its operations, only to its name.
Katie Robertson at The New York Times reports of a name change for the newspaper giant (or here):
The company, which publishes more than 200 local newspapers across 42 states, is adopting the name of its flagship publication.
Gannett, the country’s largest newspaper publisher, is renaming itself USA Today Company, after its flagship national newspaper, the company announced on Tuesday.
“We are changing our name and rebranding to embrace our most notable masthead — which is committed to delivering fact-based news, unbiased coverage and essential content that meets audiences in the center,” Mike Reed, its chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Gannett’s name change will take effect on Nov. 18, when the company’s stock will switch to trading under the ticker symbol TDAY on the New York Stock Exchange.
Ralphie Aversa carries the story for USA TODAY:
NEW YORK ‒ For the first time since 1923, Gannett Co., Inc. is changing its name. The media company, whose content reaches one in two Americans daily, is now known as USA TODAY Co.
According to Mike Reed, CEO of USA TODAY Co., the thought process behind the new name began about six months ago as he met with marketing heads who had invested in USA TODAY or were contemplating doing so.
“One thing was very common in that people didn’t really know who Gannett was,” Reed says. “And then I would say, ‘Well, USA TODAY?’ And everybody said, ‘Oh yeah, I know that.’ ”
In addition to the name recognition, Reed believes the change will help signal that the company is transforming into a digital media business, which Antón echoes.
“I think a lot of the time, people still think we’re your hotel newspaper,” she says. “USA TODAY Co. is no longer your hotel newspaper. We are a digital platform…
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