Long-running Biddeford newspaper will publish final issue next week
The Journal Tribune, a daily newspaper that has covered the Biddeford area since 1884, will stop the presses for good after publishing its Oct. 12 issue.
The paper reported on its website Tuesday that a declining readership and loss of advertisers had made operations unprofitable and are forcing closure.
"Despite efforts to reduce expenses and grow revenue, we have not been able to make the Journal Tribune profitable," wrote Publisher Lisa DeSisto in a note to employees quoted by the paper. "When we finished 2018, the Journal Tribune was unprofitable. We set a goal to turn it around and in the first quarter we came close to that, but then it went upside down again."
As a result of the shut-down, six employees will be laid off, she said. Another had previously announced his retirement.
DeSisto is CEO of Masthead Maine, the publishing group that acquired the Journal Tribune from Sample News Group in April 2018. In addition, Masthead Maine owns five other daily newspapers: the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram; the Sun Journal, in Lewiston; the Kennebec Journal, in Augusta; the Morning Sentinel, in Waterville; and the Times Record, in Brunswick. Masthead Maine also has 25 weekly publications.
The Bangor Daily News is the state's only daily newspaper not owned by the publishing group.
DeSisto said in her memo that alternatives to closing the Journal Tribune were considered, such as converting it to an all-digital format or inserting it in the Press Herald for distribution. But ultimately, Masthead Maine decided to cease the Biddeford paper.
"With the challenges that face us across our organizations, and throughout our industry, we need to focus our resources and energies on the properties with the most potential to succeed and endure," DeSisto wrote.
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