There’s no way around it: Friday’s news that The Buffalo News will no longer print a Monday edition and will shift to six-days-a-week print, effective Nov. 3, was difficult to hear. It is sad, but not unexpected, news.
As print circulation continued to decline, The Buffalo Newspaper Guild figured the day would come when Lee Enterprises decided to no longer print seven days a week at its largest properties, including The Buffalo News. Lee had long ago reduced printing days at its smaller newspapers, as have many other media companies.
We’re disappointed Lee is giving our loyal print subscribers – who have stuck with us despite all the Lee-erected barriers to good customer service – only one month of notice for such a big change in their routines. It seems to be the latest mad dash from Lee to cut costs as fast as it can because its own executives once again botched the company’s financial projections and budgeting.
It’s true that this industry is changing. For instance, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is phasing out print Dec. 31 and moving to a fully digital publication. But there’s a key difference between what’s happening in Atlanta and what’s happening in Lee’s markets, such as Buffalo.
Whereas the Journal-Constitution’s owner, Cox Enterprises, invested a reported $150 million over five years into the publication’s digital products, Lee has given its markets a poorly-functioning, cookie-cutter website and mobile app that only frustrates readers and erodes the consumer experience online.
Quite simply, Lee has not properly invested in and dialed in its digital products to the point where its markets can successfully navigate a full transition from print to digital. And that’s a big problem as we start cutting print days and revenue.
Meanwhile, at a time when Lee wants its newsrooms to increase story, photo and video production, it is cutting newsroom budgets across the country. In Buffalo, the Guild expects to say goodbye to three to four newsroom members by the end of the year, either through voluntary resignation with severance or layoff.
Lee seems to be a company so desperate for cost savings that it is willing to slash anything and everything in its budget, regardless of whether those cuts endanger its future and its newspapers’ ability to cover their communities.
All of Lee’s markets, including Buffalo, deserve better than that.
Buffalo Newspaper Guild CWA Local 31026 
I read the Buffalo News every day! All the news that is fit to print can’t skip a day or brush aside this community’s need for a strong newspaper. Our community and business leaders need to stand up and speak out in support of a daily newspaper.