Several Daily Michigan Newspapers to Consolidate or Fold

Not only are big city newspapers in trouble.

According the Detroit News website, eight Michigan daily newspapers have announced plans to cut home delivery or close for good.

In July, the Ann Arbor News will close and be replaced by AnnArbor.com, which will produce news and other content daily on the Web and twice-weekly in print.

Starting June 1, the Flint Journal, the Saginaw News and the Bay City Times will publish print editions only on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, while maintaining a daily Web presence. Four other papers -- the Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, and Muskegon Chronicle -- will publish daily but consolidate some operations and reduce wages and benefits.

The local newspaper industry has mirrored the chaos in the national industry. The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press are reducing their print subscriptions to three days a week, and in March, the publisher of the Oakland Press, the Macomb Daily and Royal Oak's Daily Tribune, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.

It will be interesting to see the state of Michigan newspapers at the end of 2009.