Paper cuts

Well, no Sunday Saipan Tribune, according to Publisher Lynn A. Knight.

This has been coming for months. Advertising in both* local papers has been steadily dwindling. Much of what remains is going-out-of-business sales, insurance companies' Notice of Withdrawals and garage sales.

The Marianas Variety went to yellow stock, then green, then slightly smaller newsprint. All to save a buck.

Sunday is the logical choice; that edition sat on the shelf when I was selling papers. There are syndication fees for those Sunday funnies and not much happens here on Saturdays anyway except for sports. Government sources have the weekend off anyway.

Knight makes an excellent point in her column: You don't have to agree with the conclusions of the Economic Impact of Federal Laws on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to consider it must reading. It's too bad I couldn't get the report from Insular Affairs, the CNMI government or the media. I first found the pdf at Unheard No More.

Which brings up an interesting point. Both local papers have been pushing their online editions (which can't be good for ad sales). Why couldn't they have included a pdf on their website? That's one of the few things I like about the Pacific Daily News: links to the original documents often accompany their stories in sidebars.

* I don't include Guam's Pacific Daily News or the Pacific Times-- which is only the press arm of Emmanuel College and whatever politicians might be able to help the college. In any case, ptimes hasn't been publishing much... unless it's got news about... Emmanuel College.