PB Commercial ends Saturday editions

The Pine Bluff Commercial published its last Saturday edition today, the newspaper said in a front page letter to readers on Friday.

Print media, like most businesses, are facing challenges, Publisher Ed Graves said in the letter. The

Commercial is seeking “to remain relevant, viable and profitable,” Graves said.

Management of the paper began considering ending the Saturday print edition around the middle of April, John Worthen, the paper’s managing editor, said in an interview.

“It was quite a planning process to get up to the point to where we were able to feasibly shut down [Saturday’s print edition],” Worthen said.

The “big wrinkle” was the understanding that stories of popular Friday night sports events would not be printed on Saturdays, Worthen said. But the Commercial will publish the stories online and on its Facebook page, Worthen said.