Poynter.org
Earlier today I reported that Mark Medici, vice president for audience at The Dallas Morning News, said Monday during a session at the Inland Press Association conference that the newspaper won’t be printed seven days a week in three years. James Moroney, publisher and CEO of the News, tells me that Medici doesn’t recall saying such a thing and that it was either a “misstatement or a misunderstanding.” Moroney says the newspaper’s leadership has never concluded that “discontinuing seven days of print is a good business model” and that “we have no other plans than to continue seven days of the print edition.”
Here’s his entire statement:
We have had many calls today about a statement attributed to Mark Medici, that we would not be publishing a print edition of The Dallas Morning News every day of the week within three years. We spoke to Mark, who did not recall making any such statement. Whether a misstatement or a misunderstanding, what we do know is that we have never come to a conclusion that we would be discontinuing seven days of the printed edition of The Dallas Morning News. So, while this was a fascinating statement for a lot of people to read, it inaccurately describes the belief we have as a team about the durability of the seven day print model. We hope this puts to rest any questions on this issue.
When I pressed him to clarify if the company has considered stopping printing on any day, he responded:
I mean that we have never concluded that discontinuing seven days of print is a good business model. We have never concluded it in the past and we don’t think so presently. We have no other plans than to continue seven days of the print edition.
Besides the live blog of the event, which reported Medici’s statement, I have heard from two people in the audience who said the account on the blog was accurate.
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