Anchorage Daily News will reduce to two print editions a week, beginning July 15

Over the winter, the publisher of the Anchorage Daily News began asking thought leaders in Anchorage about how the community would react to the newspaper reducing its hard copy editions to twice a week.

The decision was made by the owners, the Binkley Company, and announced to staff in April, but a computer issue involving ransomware attacks postponed the date of conversion from June 2 to July 15.

The announcement of the planned reduction was made public today. According to the newspaper, three jobs will be lost; they are in the distribution department. No other jobs will be touched.

The newspaper already had outsourced its printing in 2017 to Wick Communications, which owns and prints the Frontiersman newspaper in the Mat-Su Valley, and it’s not been revealed if jobs will be lost at that printing plant as a result. Ryan Binkley, CEO, said that the journalism of the Anchorage Daily News will remain strong: “The move won’t affect news coverage or the organization’s journalistic ambition,” the paper said.

“The decision to reduce print days reflects changing reader habits and rising costs. Readership on ADN.com and its mobile app far exceeds that of the print newspaper — accounting for more than 90% of readership overall. The number of digital-only subscribers surpassed the number of print subscribers several years ago,” the newspaper said today in a story.

The news of the reduction was reported at Must Read Alaska on April 11, before the ransomware attack delayed the date for conversion.