The Palo Alto Daily News announced today that it has dropped its Sunday edition and will now print Tuesday through Saturday.
In addition, the Daily News will stop printing separate editions for San Mateo, Burlingame and Redwood City. The Palo Alto edition will be distributed in Redwood City and San Carlos, however.
The MediaNews Group paper is dropping the words “Palo Alto” from its name and will be known as simply the Daily News starting Tuesday.
In a front page announcement today, no mention was made of any layoffs. At least one employee was let go in the switch, however.
Ironically, the front page announcement was next to a story about the dedication of the Stanford Daily’s new building. New York Times Editor Bill Keller was on hand for the celebration, saying some might see the event as being (see correction below) akin to a “ribbon cutting at a new Pontiac dealership.”
The cut backs come just 10 months after the Daily News laid off six employees and dropped its Monday edition.
The free paper started in 1995 in Palo Alto and in 2000 sprouted separate editions in Redwood City, San Mateo and Burlingame. The paper added a Sunday edition in 2003.
In 2005, the founders sold it to Knight Ridder for $25 million. A year later, Knight Ridder sold off all of its newspapers to McClatchy. Within days, McClatchy sold its Bay Area papers to MediaNews Group.
Full disclosure: The editor of the Press Club’s Web page, and the author of this item, is Dave Price, who co-founded the Palo Alto Daily News and now owns the competing Daily Post in Palo Alto.
Update, Saturday, April 4: Today is the last day for the San Mateo Daily News, Redwood City Daily News and Burlingame Daily News. Each paper lasted eight years (Aug. 9, 2000-April 4, 2009). Here are the announcements the three papers printed on their front page today.
Burlingame Daily News
San Mateo Daily News
Redwood City Daily News
CORRECTION, April 7:A Daily News staffer points out that Keller didn’t see the opening as being like that of a Pontiac dealership, but that some might see it that way. The next paragraph of the story stated: “He was quick to clarify that he doesn’t subscribe to the view that journalism is headed for obsolescence. It may require ‘an adventurous spirit,’ he said, but the students who will make the new offices of The Stanford Daily their own will also have an opportunity to help shape the future of an industry in transition.”