By: Jennifer Saba Residents of the Washington, D.C., area will have one more newspaper choice to add to the growing list of dailies peppering the capital and surrounding areas. Tomorrow is the official launch of the Washington Examiner, the free tabloid-size daily from Philip Anschutz's Clarity Media.
James McDonald, president and publisher of the Examiner, told E&P the company plans to distribute 270,000 copies throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. -- a generous run that will then shrink slightly to a 260,000 copies.
McDonald stressed that the Examiner is different from The Washington Post's Express tabloid. ?We are not a commuter paper,? he said noting that content will not consist of ?wire snippets.?
The company's emphasis is on home delivery, Monday through Saturday, target of adults aged 21 to 49, skewing female, and with an income of at least $75,000.
Tomorrow's paper will total 64 pages. McDonald would not disclose advertisers or ad lineage. ?We've been excited about the response,? he added.
The Washington Examiner follows in the path of Journal Newspapers, a company that published free, home delivered tabs in the Washington suburbs. Anschutz bought the company last October. The circulation totaled about 206,000 at the time of the purchase.
McDonald, who was also the former publisher of the Journal Newspapers, said that the Examiner is a beefed up version with new sections including federal, op-ed, and gossip pages.
Though the paper is mostly home-delivered -- about 211,000 copies -- the Examiner will also be distributed by hawkers within D.C. There is also an opt-out option for those who receive it at home. McDonald said the opt-out rate for the Journal Newspapers was 2%. ?It's got challenges to it,? he said adding the rate for the Examiner should be about the same.
The Examiner has 16 local reporters and subscribes to the New York Times and Associated Press wire services.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here