Sacramento News & Review returning to print after pandemic put paper on hiatus
SN&R is returning to newsstands.
“We’ll meet you in the street,” read a banner on its website this week as the Sacramento News & Review announced a July 1 return to print, its first edition since halting the presses at the end of March due to advertising fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
After an outpouring of community support and donations to keep the operation going, SN&R’s CEO Jeff vonKaenel says the free paper will return to racks and business around the capital region and in Chico, though only as a monthly publication for now.
VonKaenel said in a March 17 announcement that the decision to stop printing came when businesses that had bought advertising dried up, affecting operations in Sacramento, Chico and Reno and resulting in staff layoffs. However, several journalists in the three cities continued publishing news and arts stories online.
“It’s been painful, with all of these events going on, not to be able to cover them the way we’d like to,” vonKaenel told The Sacramento Bee on Thursday. “I’m excited and delighted to start print again.”
VonKaenel said that since March, the company has received support from advertisers and readers, as well as a $700,000 loan under the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. Still, some advertisers including nightclubs and live music venues aren’t back, which is why the paper will be published monthly through the fall.
VonKaenel said he considers this a crucial time for local news organizations to think about sustainable business models that rely more on reader support.
“Google and Facebook are getting all the revenue but are not putting out the content,” he said.
SN&R is not the only media outlet affected by the pandemic’s far-reaching economic impact: McClatchy, the owner of The Sacramento Bee and 29 other news organizations, announced furloughs to advertising staff in April while other outlets — such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today parent Gannett Co. — announced a variety of cost-saving measures.
Other cutting that’s affected the local media market includes furloughs for Gannett’s spun-off TV group TENGA, owner of ABC-affiliated KXTV (Ch. 10); layoffs at CBS-owned Sacramento duopoly KOVR (Ch. 13) and KMAX (Ch. 31); pay cuts at iHeartMedia’s network of radio stations including KFBK (93.1 FM/1530 AM) and cutbacks at the Appeal-Democrat newspaper in Marysville.