The Bobcat Nation

The Helena and Butte sports sections are now just one staff 3? People). The end of daily newspapers in Montana is on the horizon.

TomCat88 wrote: ↑

Fri May 05, 2023 10:06 am

The Helena and Butte sports sections are now just one staff 3? People). The end of daily newspapers in Montana is on the horizon.

It makes me sick to see what's happened to the GF Tribune in recent years. Just 3-4 years ago, it was still the best paper in the state by far, in my opinion, and now it's just a bad joke. They don't even have a sports writer anymore, and don't cover local sports at all. Actually they barely provide any local news coverage of any kind. I doubt many people would even miss it, if they just pulled the plug.

John K wrote: ↑

Mon May 08, 2023 8:20 pm

TomCat88 wrote: ↑

Fri May 05, 2023 10:06 am

The Helena and Butte sports sections are now just one staff 3? People). The end of daily newspapers in Montana is on the horizon.

It makes me sick to see what's happened to the GF Tribune in recent years. Just 3-4 years ago, it was still the best paper in the state by far, in my opinion, and now it's just a bad joke. They don't even have a sports writer anymore, and don't cover local sports at all. Actually they barely provide any local news coverage of any kind. I doubt many people would even miss it, if they just pulled the plug.

Yep, but all newspapers (printed) will be completely gone in a few years. I agree though, they didn’t navigate the move to digital well at all

I know a lot of news sources are using AI to write their stories. I'd imagine a good chunk of Lucas Semb's job was replaced by AI. With quickly dwindling revenues, newspapers and even news websites have to cut anywhere they can. It was a scary time to be a journalist 10 years ago, and considerably scarier now. Might as well go to school to become a blacksmith instead of a journalist.

I'll be cancelling my weekend subscription to the Gazette. They hit the trifecta recently; cutting MT jobs, ongoing delivery issues, and a notice of a rate increase. I'm done paying for a crossword. 90% on the content is all AP stuff that's three days old by the time they print it anyway.

The Chronicle stopped making a Monday paper a number of years ago. More recently, they dropped making a Sunday paper. So now we get a Saturday morning paper and don't get another until Tuesday morning. I don't suppose that affects their readership among college sports fans.

catbooster wrote: ↑

Wed May 10, 2023 1:53 pm

The Chronicle stopped making a Monday paper a number of years ago. More recently, they dropped making a Sunday paper. So now we get a Saturday morning paper and don't get another until Tuesday morning. I don't suppose that affects their readership among college sports fans.

Wow, the Chronicle really went on a diet May 1. They now use a national news print tacked onto the end — it has seemed a waste of time for a long time to have local staff laying out AP national & world news articles. The local / state news seems to just be rolled up into Section A. I was surprised when my digital version jumped right to the Sports section after the first eight pages or whatever it was. I hope they’ll be able to maintain vital state & local news and sports sections — anything else is more quickly found on the ‘net.

The Missoulian is now just three days a week and not Sunday.

The Helena IR will be just three days a week starting July 9.