The Ann Arbor News hits the streets for last time

ByABC News
July 23, 2009, 12:38 PM

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- After 174 years, the last edition of The Ann Arbor News rolled off the presses Thursday with a three-word headline: "Farewell, Ann Arbor."

The only general circulation daily newspaper in this college town has gone out of business. It is being replaced by AnnArbor.com, an online news site that will produce a print edition twice a week, on Thursday and Sunday.

The 12-page front section of the News was dedicated to the history of the paper and the transition to AnnArbor.com, which is also owned by Advance Publications. That site goes live Friday.

"The devastating transformation of the newspaper industry and the severe economic impact on the News forced the painful decision to close our newspaper," publisher Laurel Champion wrote in a front-page column. "But I hope you will remember us for many, many reasons."

Photographer Brian Reynolds was at the printing plant in Pittsfield Township which printed an extra 12,000 copies of the paper Thursday to pick up final copies for the newsroom. He wore a black shirt with the News nameplate on the front and a message on the back: "No News is bad news."

Ann Arbor, 45 miles west of Detroit, is home to the University of Michigan, a highly educated population and a relatively stable economy. But the News, like other newspapers, says it has been losing money as advertisers abandon print and readers seek information online or elsewhere.

Daily papers in Seattle and Denver have closed this year and many others have reduced their print editions.

"You know that guy Craig?" Champion said, referring to craigslist.com, which has been getting many of the ads that normally would fill a newspaper's classified section.

"The seven-day-a-week print model just is not sustainable here," she said. "We have very low home ownership. The population is transient and young. Those demographics have worked against us."

Indeed, Wednesday's paper was just 20 pages, including a full-page ad promoting AnnArbor.com.