Delaware Online announced Wednesday that the News Journal will drop its Saturday edition.
The companywide decision also included the Daily Times in neighboring Salisbury, MD.
The change will reportedly occur at more than 100 papers in the Gannett chain. In place of the Saturday edition will be an online “E-newspaper” that resembles a print edition.
Even in their heyday, Saturday has traditionally been a weak day for print newspapers. As a result, small-town dailies opted for expanded Sunday or Friday editions in place of the Saturday papers.
The News Journal had a stronger Saturday paper than some of its peers, thanks to many auto dealerships and real estate listings.
Those ads began to disappear as circulation declined and as listings and inventories went online.
More recently, the newspaper industry has been hit by rising newsprint prices.
Gannett, one of the largest newspaper chains, is the product of the merger with Gatehouse. The company owns the bulk of Delaware’s weekly newspapers that were once part of Gatehouse’s holdings.
