The Ann Arbor News

History

Original publication

Published in Ann Arbor under various names from 1835 to 2009, The News was part of Booth Newspapers, owned after 1976 by Advance Publications. The News was published in the afternoons Monday through Friday and in the mornings on weekends and holidays. It published special sections throughout the year.

The newspaper ended its 174-year print run on July 23, 2009. The publisher blamed the loss of classified advertising revenue (which moved to Craigslist), and noted "the seven-day-a-week print model just is not sustainable here. We have very low home ownership. The population is transient and young. Those demographics have worked against us."

Website

The Ann Arbor News was replaced by a website, AnnArbor.com, which carried daily news stories and was accompanied by print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. Of the 272 people employed as of the announcement of the paper's closing, "more than a dozen" were hired for AnnArbor.com.

The closure also ended Livingston Community News, a free weekly newspaper for Livingston County published from 2003 to 2009 by the Ann Arbor News.

The company closed the Ann Arbor Business Review at the same time and moved the weekly publication under the brand of AnnArbor.com. Several employees of Ann Arbor Business Review were hired by the new company.

The Ann Arbor News is believed to be the first daily newspaper to fail in an American city with only one for-profit daily newspaper. (A Monday-through-Friday paper, The Michigan Daily, is the student newspaper of the University of Michigan and is non-profit.)

Renaming

In 2013, AnnArbor.com was transitioned to MLive.com along with Advance Publications' other Michigan newspapers and renamed The Ann Arbor News.

Awards

• 1982 Penney-Missouri Award General Excellence

Building

From 1936 until its closing in 2009, The Ann Arbor News owned and occupied a three-story Art Deco-style building at the corner of Huron and Division streets in downtown Ann Arbor. It is the only commercial building in the city designed by famed architect Albert Kahn. The building was sold to the University of Michigan Credit Union in 2010.

References

References

1. (July 23, 2009). "''Ann Arbor News'' Prints Last Edition After 174 Years". [[Editor & Publisher]].
2. (2022-02-01). "2022-2023 Michigan Press Association Member Directory". [[Michigan Press Association]].
3. "Michigan Press Association list of members". Michigan Press Association.
4. [https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2009/03/ann_arbor_news_to_close_in_jul.html "Ann Arbor News to Close in July"], ''Ann Arbor News'', March 23, 2009. Accessed March 23, 2009.
5. (March 23, 2009). "ONLINE LOCAL NEWS STRATEGY UNVEILED FOR ANN ARBOR, MI".
6. [https://www.mlive.com/news/livingston/index.ssf/2009/03/livingston_community_news_will.html Livingston Community News: "The Livingston Community News will close in July"], March 23, 2009.
7. Heflin, Cindy (July 9, 2009). [https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2009/07/ann_arbor_business_review_clos.html "Ann Arbor Business Review closing; brand to continue on AnnArbor.com"] [[Mlive.com]].
8. "Why Ann Arbor Will be the First City to Lose its Only Daily Newspaper". Poynter.
9. "The Ann Arbor News– Subscriber Services".
10. "Courier-Journal has won". [[Louisville Courier-Journal]].
11. "What's Next for The Ann Arbor News Building?". Concentrate.
12. "University of Michigan Credit Union buys ex-Ann Arbor News building". AnnArbor.com.