By: Mark Fitzgerald The Detroit Media Partnership never considered shutting down The Detroit News as it considered the radical changes to the distribution and content of the city's two dailies, CEO David Hunke said Tuesday.
Hunke declared the partnership is committed to publishing two dailies, while answering a question from a union leader at a press conference announcing the News and the Detroit Free Press are halting home delivery except for its Thursday, Friday and Sunday editions -- and that it will print a slim one-section newspaper for single-copy sales all other weekdays.
"Everybody in the country, everybody in the industry, has asked that question -- but us," said Hunke. "People are fiercely loyal to these two papers. ... People in Detroit, people in Michigan love the fact that they have two papers -- and we're not going to change that."
How long will this radically changed business model be given to work, executives from the partnership and the newspapers were asked.
"We've had tremendous support from Gannett," said Hunke, who is also the Free Press' publisher. Gannett controls 95% of the partnership with MediaNews Group, owner of the News. Detroit Media Partnership runs the business, production and distribution operations of both papers, which have separate and competitive newsrooms.
MediaNews has also been supportive, said Jonathon Wolman, the News' editor and publisher. "I've said before there is no timetable on this -- except to make it work."
Digital delivery is the future of newspapers, and Detroit papers are better off embracing it now, Hunke said at the press conference, held at the Detroit Athletic Club.
"That has been one of my criticisms of this industry," Hunke said, "that we do little, incremental changes when I think we could be the best in digital delivery of content."
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