Posted on 02/07/2008 12:38:43 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Late this spring The Capital Times will dramatically enhance its Internet site as well as alter its print frequency from six days to two days per week to address changing habits of afternoon newspaper readers, company executives announced Thursday.
Publisher Clayton Frink said the newspaper's online site, captimes.com, will feature increased volume, depth and timeliness of news, opinion and other information. He said the printed edition of the newspaper will expand its distribution by about five times and switch from six-day publication to two weekly tabloid-size editions.
"The Capital Times has been a progressive media voice in Madison for 90 years, and this move allows us to preserve that legacy and, in fact, reach far more people than ever before," Frink said.
Beginning April 30, the news and opinion edition of The Capital Times will be published on Wednesdays. It will be distributed with home-delivered Wisconsin State Journal subscriptions throughout and just beyond Dane County and offered free throughout the Madison area in newspaper racks. It will offer in-depth news and public affairs stories as well as the newspaper's highly regarded opinion and commentary content, Frink said.
The Capital Times will also produce a weekly arts, entertainment and culture section that will be distributed on Thursdays with the Wisconsin State Journal and offered free in newspaper racks in the Madison area. It will replace the current Rhythm publication, which is co-produced with the State Journal and appears in both newspapers.
With its new distribution, The Capital Times will have a circulation of more than 80,000. Current circulation is 17,072. The date of final daily publication is Saturday, April 26. Subscribers of The Capital Times will receive a letter in coming weeks with information about their account.
It was also announced that Paul Fanlund will become editor of The Capital Times, effective immediately, having been executive editor since August 2006. "We believe our plan to combine an outstanding news and information web site with in-depth, magazine-style weekly tabloids is on the mark for the future," Fanlund said. "This move is vital to ensuring the long-term relevance of the Cap Times."
Fanlund assumes the role in which Dave Zweifel has served since 1983. The 67-year-old Zweifel announced he will assume the new title of editor emeritus. He will continue to write his regular columns for the newspaper's website and Wednesday edition and oversee the paper's opinion content with Associate Editor John Nichols.
"Our founder, William T. Evjue, had to make many tough decisions to ensure The Capital Times success through the years he ran the newspaper," Zweifel said. "Just as he had to deal with the changing technology of his day, we're making these changes to ensure that his vision of Wisconsin progressivism and his insistence that a newspaper must champion truth and justice for all the people will continue far into the future."
"Moving our resources to the web is the wave of the future," Zweifel added. "Thousands of readers are already using captimes.com and, frankly, we're often blown away by the volume of responses we get to columns and stories at a time when we're devoting limited resources to the site. Putting the full force our newsroom on the site will extend the reach and relevance of The Capital Times for years and years to come."
The changes will result in a smaller workforce in The Capital Times newsroom and in other areas of Capital Newspapers, though the size of the change has not been finalized. A voluntary separation program for employees will be part of the transition.
As an afternoon newspaper, The Capital Times circulation had reached its peak in 1966. Publishing for afternoon distribution was once a coveted position in newspapering, but almost all p.m. newspapers in two-newspaper markets have disappeared over the past two decades.
The Capital Times was created in 1917 by the late William T. Evjue as a progressive media voice and that tradition continues today. He founded the paper at the height of World War I and in the early years his newspaper survived several advertising boycotts to become the dominant paper in the Madison area.
In 1948, Evjue reached an agreement with Lee Enterprises, the owners of the Wisconsin State Journal, to form a new corporation that was then named Madison Newspapers, Inc. Although the agreement combined the advertising, circulation and production departments of the newspapers, it ensured two completely independent newsrooms. Because there was now just one press, The Capital Times elected to continue in the afternoon while the State Journal took the morning field and the Sunday newspaper.
The Capital Times Co. and Lee Enterprises continue to each own 50 percent of what today is known as Capital Newspapers, which in addition to publishing The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal, owns the Portage Daily Register, Baraboo News-Republic, Beaver Dam Citizen and several weeklies and shoppers in south central Wisconsin.
When Evjue died in 1970, his will directed that the William T. Evjue Charitable Trust hold his controlling stock in The Capital Times and that the proceeds be given to The Evjue Foundation, which he established several years before his death. Today, the foundation annually contributes more than $2 million to local cultural, educational and non-profit community projects and will continue to do so.
17,000 PAYING customers, but now they'll give it away for FREE to 80,000? Liberals. Is there ANYTHING about meeting a bottom line and making a profit that they understand? Agenda above all, obviously. *SMIRK*
Chortle, chortle.
But it's so good to see that Dave Zweifel will continue to write his column for the website and the "mid-week edition".
A veritable barrel of laughs for all readers, every Wednesday...
Don’t forget ‘Resident Commie’ John Nichols, too. ;)
The only reason this yellow rag “gets by” is due to The Evjue Foundation. If he hadn’t of left tens of millions to this paper, it would’ve been gone soon after it’s “peak” circulation in NINETEEN SIXTY-SIX. ;)
How are the ‘Err Amerika’ ratings these days? *SMIRK*
Do you follow the “Dinosaur Media” threads? Look them up. It’ll be a good education for you.
And ‘smug?’ Moi? At the demise of the Commie Paper in my town? ROFLMAO! Of course I am. They’re the enemy, Silly! :)
Did a little research.
Dane County households -- 173,484
Capital-Times circulation -- 17,072
Penetration -- less than 10%.
As an ex-ad guy, I can't describe how utterly pathetic that figure is.
It must define the hard-core Commie population of the county. I thought it would've been greater.
The Capital Times was founded in 1917 with the modest purpose of promoting peace and economic and social justice. We also hoped to gather all the news that mattered and to sell some papers.
Not much has changed over the past 90 years.
In 1917 we opposed an unnecessary war in Europe and defended the rights of those who dared to challenge the munitions merchants and the war profiteers.
Now we oppose an unnecessary war in the Mideast and defend those who dare to expose the excesses of Halliburton and the high crimes and misdemeanors of Dick Cheney.
In 1917 and 1918 we were on the cutting edge of information technology. Relying on better wire services and smarter judgment, we got the story of the end of World War I right while our competitors got it wrong.
“...and oversee the paper’s opinion content with Associate Editor John Nichols.”
It was a half-sentence, but Nichols will still be there.
(I probably boost their readership due to posting their cr@p on FR for laughs.)
Actually, I do follow those threads. The reason print media and television media are dying is because media is moving to online access. It isn’t because they are dying. This is a misconception.
I am so relieved.
I appreciate your posts of their material. It ranges from "hilarious" to "ludicrous".
How’s the Wis State Journal doing? A lot of my letters were published in the WSJ, pre-1987.
The Cap Times once designated one of my letters their “Letter of the Week.” It dealt with the Second Amendment and that long-time 2nd district congressman, Tammy’s predecessor. His name has escaped my diminishing memory banks.
I don’t disagree about the move to on-line. I’m down to a Sunday paper only, and that’s just for the grocery coupons; well worth the few bucks I spend. The rest is fish-wrap.
However, I take perverse pleasure in the suffering of Commies. They’re losing their jobs! They’re losing money! They’ve lost readership and they’re losing advertising revenue! The ONLY thing keeping them afloat for a while longer is Old Man Evjue’s “legacy” money and they’re blowing through that at an alarming rate! Yippee! :)
“The Capital Times Co. and Lee Enterprises continue to each own 50 percent of what today is known as Capital Newspapers, which in addition to publishing The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal, owns the Portage Daily Register, Baraboo News-Republic, Beaver Dam Citizen and several weeklies and shoppers in south central Wisconsin.”
They’re all taking a hit. It’s like watching our local “Pinch” What’s His Name destroy the NY Times. :)
I see a lot of posts downplaying the power of the MSM, but it sure looks lke they managed to completely control the selection of republican presidential candidates doesn’t it? We need to figure out better ways to work around these socialists.
And regular guest on WPR with Jean Feraca as the fawning host. Feraca also introduced me to one Robert Fisk who I had no previous knowledge of. As with Nichols and Fisk, Feraca never tells her listeners the background and extreme leftist views of her "wonderful" guests. She always presents them as sage, learned critics of American and international events and never as the anti-American extreme leftists they actually are. Of course I stopped listening to WPR about five years ago because the overwhelming Marxist cant on the network finally exceeded my retching point. But I'm assuming the leftist claptrap is still going on. I leave it to you Diana to suffer the program for the rest of us.
Have you seen any local news/radio in the past two days? Weinke and Nichols have been all over the airways touting what a “good move” and an “exciting adventure” this will be for everyone, LOL!
“Editor emeritus?” Try, “We can’t fire you old man, and you won’t go away, so we’ll demote you and give you a title.” *SMIRK*
I know Jean Faraca. She was a regular customer of mine in the past. She’s kinda scary. She has that same quality that The Beast does; cross her and you’re toast. Must be a liberal-chick thang. She’s married to a local TV news guy.
The “News” around here is quite an incestuous business. ;)
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