Salt Lake papers abandon JOA, announce end of daily editions

Journalism in Utah is headed for some historic changes as a longtime operating agreement between The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News ends and the two newspapers eliminate daily print editions.

The changes were announced last week, prompted by shrinking print circulations and readers’ growing appetite for accessing content online.

Last Monday, the Tribune said that next year it will switch from a daily printed newspaper to a single weekly printed edition delivered by mail on weekends. A day after the Tribune’s announcement, the Deseret News said that next year it will discontinue its daily print newspaper “in favor of expanded daily digital offerings” and start a weekly print version for Utah readers, a separate weekly print newspaper for out-of-staters and a monthly print magazine to be called Deseret. It also will grow its email newsletters.

“With this week’s announcement confirming the end of the joint operating agreement with The Salt Lake Tribune at the end of the year,” the News said, “we are ready to move into the next exciting phase of journalism. … Is this the end of daily news? No, it’s an expansion of our daily in-depth news and commentary, coming to you where you’ve told us you want it.”

The two newspapers have separate ownership and journalism staffs, but a joint operating agreement (JOA) for the past 68 years has allowed them to share the benefits and costs of advertising, subscription services, printing and distribution through an entity called Utah Media Group, previously known as the Newspaper Agency Corp. (NAC) and later as MediaOne of Utah.

The JOA expires Dec. 31 and will not be renewed. The Utah Media Group printing and distribution operations in West Valley City will be shuttered, meaning the loss of about 160 jobs, and the News and Tribune will independently print and deliver their respective newspapers.

In a news release last week announcing the end of the JOA, officials from both newspapers praised the benefits of the now-ending partnership but said they remain committed to providing readers with solid journalism in the future.

“The Deseret News has been an outstanding and constructive partner in the JOA in this financially tumultuous industry,” said Paul Huntsman, chairman of the Tribune. He purchased the Tribune from Alden Capital in 2016. “As the Tribune moves forward, our commitment to our readers is unchanged: to provide reliable and informative news, analysis and commentary to our readers.”

“The Salt Lake Tribune has been a great partner over the years and the partnership has benefited the community in many ways,” said Jeff Simpson, president and publisher of the Deseret News. “We love our thousands of print subscribers along with the millions who read us online every month. With this change, we can continue our focus on great journalism, serving our readers and growing our digital audiences across Utah and beyond.”

The Tribune began printing in 1871 and in 2019 undertook a nonprofit model. “It is now a community asset managed by a board of directors drawn from the community,” Huntsman said. “As a nonprofit organization, in addition to reader subscriptions, it will be able to accept donations from supporting subscribers and gifts from philanthropic organizations.”

The Deseret News started in 1850. It is one of the media entities of Deseret Management Corp., owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The coming changes are occurring in a fluid media landscape as newspapers have seen print circulation figures — as well as profits from print advertising and subscriptions — decline for years and have turned to websites, email and apps to distribute their content. At one time, the Tribune’s print circulation was about 200,000 copies. It had shrunk to about 61,000 in 2014 and now is about 36,000, according to the Tribune.

“We are in a unique position because for years now our digital readership has dwarfed our print readership and the great majority of the remaining print readers have become digital-first,” Simpson said of the News.

The number of Deseret.com digital users is nearly 500 times that of local print subscribers, he added.

“Over the past two years alone, our digital users have nearly doubled across our various platforms, and 70 percent of that group are from outside Utah,” Simpson said.

Readers’ move from print to digital made the JOA printing and distribution activities obsolete.

“In the era of large printing presses, the benefits of these joint operating agreements were significant, but today’s situation is different,” Brent Low, president and CEO of Utah Media Group, said in last week’s news release. “Demand for a printed newspaper is a fraction of what it was historically, while digital content and distribution is everywhere, and our clients can get their papers printed in a cost-effective way without owning their own presses.”

The JOA was first signed in 1952 and later federal legislation confirmed exceptions for anti-monopoly rules. Seen as a way to preserve competing newspapers in certain markets, JOAs allowed newspapers to share certain operations while maintaining separate newsgathering activities.

The local JOA was renegotiated and amended several times over the years. In 2013, a renegotiation resulted in the News becoming the majority partner and the Tribune selling to the News its real estate and printing presses. The News also increased its profits from the shared operations from 42 percent to 70 percent despite the Tribune having a two-to-one circulation advantage over the News. The Tribune at that time was owned by newspaper chain MediaNews Group.

In addition to the jobs being cut at MediaOne, job changes are happening at both the Tribune and Deseret News. The Tribune said its newsroom staff of about 65 workers will not be reduced although some might have new duties. The News last week said it would be cutting 18 employees, mostly from its visual editing and sales departments. Six journalists were in the group, including one writer who had worked there for more than 26 years.

Newspapers across the country have eliminated print editions, often on Mondays or moving to three-days-per-week printing. For example, the Standard-Examiner in Ogden recently combined its Saturday and Sunday newspapers and now has only a Saturday newspaper, that is delivered by mail.

The Tribune’s weekly print edition is expected to be mailed to subscribers along the Wasatch Front and in Summit County on weekends, the newspaper said, adding that subscribers in other areas will receive it early the following week. Print subscribers will have unlimited access to digital content.

Both the Tribune and News vowed to maintain strong news coverage. A Deseret News Editorial Board “invitation” last week — published before the paper’s daily print edition changes were announced — encouraged readers to “pioneer with us,” describing the new changes “a hinge point in news media history.”

“We invite you,” the board said, “to engage with us on every platform from digital to print and be part of the ongoing pioneering legacy of informed and engaged citizens committed to making this place, this nation and this world better.”