• by Fern Siegel , March 14, 2017

Next month, Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, will trim the print editions of three Southern newspapers to three days a week.

The three dailies are: The Town Talk of Alexandria, Louisiana, and Hattiesburg American in Mississippi, publishing seven days a week. The Daily World in Opelousas, Louisiana, publishes six days.

Beginning April 5, all will begin publishing print editions every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Advertisers are also adjusting; the majority of their ads already appear in the Wednesday, Friday and Sunday editions.

The newspapers, part of Gannett’s USA Today Network, cited their digital readerships as one important reason for print declines. The Town Talk and Hattiesburg American claim to have eight times as many digital subscribers as print readers; The Daily World reports five times as many.

Judi Terzotis, president of both The Daily World and The Town Talk papers, wrote in the latter: “Our dedication to providing trusted, local news and information to our community every day is unwavering. We will continue to report the news as it happens through our many online platforms..."

Gannett has had a roller-coaster time of late, as net income fell in 2016. The company also failed to acquire Tronc, which publishes the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, among and other newspapers.

In February, four Gannett newspapers in the Southwest —Las Cruces Sun-News, El Paso Times, Carlsbad Current-Argus and Alamogordo Daily News — decided to shrink their print editions and shift coverage to digital.  

Gannett isn't the first publisher to cut print editions.

In 2012, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Mobile, Ala. Press-Register cut frequency to three days per week. Both papers are owned by New York-based Advance Publications.