Print remains, but e-edition is future

As many readers know, Monday’s U-T will not be delivered on paper. The U-T, which dates back to 1868, will arrive to your desktop, laptop or other device in a digital format.

Daily print will resume July 5. Another digital-only day will happen Labor Day, Sept. 5.

The U-T’S editor and publisher, Jeff Light, told subscribers about the moves in a full-page letter June 19 in the A section. The letter was also mailed to subscribers last week.

A few readers emailed their objections and worries to the readers’ rep.

“I was born in 1946. I grew up reading the morning newspaper with a cup of coffee and figure I’ve been doing it for at least 60 years,” Martin Topper from Oceanside wrote. “It’s what I’m used to and what I enjoy. I tried using my ipad to read the digital edition . ... I didn’t like it at all! I’m afraid July 4th rather than representing America’s Day of Independence will instead be a Day of Infamy foretelling the demise of The San Diego Union-tribune Print Edition. How very sad!”

As a career newspaper employee, I’m sad too. I grew up reading the San Francisco Chronicle and its Sporting Green — printed on green paper. I’ve been at the U-T for more than 20 years. What we’re experiencing as newspaper readers is inevitable, but let’s not be too quick on scheduling a funeral for print.

The U-T plans seven-day print delivery for years to come, Light told subscribers. However, the future is digital, and that’s the point of the digital-only version for Monday and for Labor Day.

“As we look at our digital transformation going forward, we can see that there will be a day when we do not have print delivery seven days,” Light said June 19 in a “Backstory” segment of the U-T’S San Diego News Fix podcast. “Now, unlike some others in the industry, we have the advantage of profitability and of time. So that day is actually not very close for us. But I think that using the next several years to prepare our customers and our company for that important date, whenever it comes, is an important priority.”

It’s a trend seen nationwide. According to a study released Wednesday by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, 40 of the largest 100 newspapers in the country publish only digital versions at least once a week.

The U-T has two main digital platforms: the website and the e-edition.

The website is sandiegouniontribune.com. Readers scroll up and down for news stories. I think its greatest strength is for breaking news. It’s also a way to access podcasts, videos and photo galleries. Nonsubscribers have limited access to the site.

The e-edition is an exact replica of the printed newspaper. In fact, it originates from the same electronic files that are used to create the plates for the print editions. Subscribers can access the e-edition by going to the top of the sandiegouniontribune.com website and clicking on “enewspaper.”

The e-edition also features some extras: U-T sports adds pages Thursdays and Saturdays; the L.A. Times Calendar section runs daily; and two pages of news service obituaries are published Saturdays. I also like the ease of accessing past editions.

Print subscribers have unlimited access to the website and the e-edition.

As much as many readers, and I, like print, at some point in the future readership and economics will bring an end to the printed seven-day-a-week newspaper. Print readers are older; younger readers are not choosing to subscribe to print. Every year, print subscriptions decline, and digital subscriptions increase.

It’s also expensive to produce a daily print product — newsprint, the cost to run a massive press, labor to operate the press and deliver the paper to a home, and the extreme expense of fuel, not to mention the carbon footprint of driving 13,000 miles a day, as U-T delivery contractors do.

Still, the U-T plans to continue daily print for as long as the numbers pencil out to continue the paper’s profitability. Daily print will stop at some point, but Light says a Sunday print product should remain.

The U-T has been encouraging subscribers to familiarize themselves with the digital products. On A1 each day a note appears that directs print subscribers to how to activate their digital subscription.

For the podcast in which Light and the UT’S analytics senior manager, Anthony Basilio, discuss the delivery decision, go to sandiegouniontribune.com and scroll down to the San Diego News Fix podcast.

adrian.vore@sduniontribune.com