TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Traverse City’s Record-Eagle newspaper is still headquartered on Front Street in the city of Traverse City, but the sound of the presses humming away in the Cherry Capital of the World? Gone.
These days, the “local” Traverse City paper is printed at a Hearst Community Media Group facility in Big Rapids, about an hour and a half south. Then it makes the early morning trip back north for distribution. And even that is a part-time gig as the paper is only printed and distributed Tuesday through Saturday.
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A report on Vimeo by Scott Harmsen, an award-winning news photographer and photo editor out of Kalamazoo, says that the Garfield Township plant had operated in Grand Traverse County for 33 years before closing down. He reports that Publisher Paul J. Heidbreder blamed the shifting economics of printing plus higher material costs that made the move necessary. However, Heidbreder promises that the change will “bring the very best news coverage possible for the Grand Traverse region.”
In July, the move resulted in the elimination of 13 Traverse City positions, with some employees offered the chance to transfer to Big Rapids. Those who did not relocate received a severance package.
Detroit papers, same story.
It’s not just Traverse City though. The Detroit Free Press – once a powerhouse with its own massive Sterling Heights printing facility – shut those presses down earlier this month. Now, the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News are printed in another facility. Translation: fewer local printing jobs, longer delivery drives, and even more pressure for Michiganders to read their stories online.
Gannett Co., the parent company of the Detroit Free Press, announced that they had cut 115 jobs and shifted production of 32 newspapers to other locations. The Free Press, the Detroit News, and other publications will be produced at facilities in Michigan, as well as in Ohio (Freep), Tennessee, and Illinois, according to the company. In addition to the Detroit dailies and several other Michigan newspapers, the Sterling Heights plant had also handled printing for USA TODAY, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
The company said in a statement after a deal couldn’t be made when their lease expired, “Where our newspaper is printed does not impact our ability to provide continued outstanding service to the community. As our business becomes increasingly digital, we are making strategic decisions to ensure the future of local journalism. The Detroit Free Press will continue to provide readers with quality, local journalism that matters most to them, and to connect our valued advertising partners with the customers they want to reach.”
MLive left years ago.
MLive didn’t even wait for the latest wave of out-of-town printing to hit – they packed up their Grand Rapids presses back in 2022 and shipped the work to Cleveland, Ohio, putting 71 folks out of work.
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The once-busy facility that cranked out papers for eight MLive publications now sits silent, another casualty in the slow outsourcing of local and Michigan news. Readers can still see their familiar mastheads, but the ink’s no longer drying in-state.
The irony of “local news.”
This slow migration of newspapers being printed far away from their hometowns isn’t just about cost- cutting – though that’s a big piece of the puzzle. It’s about survival in an industry where printing, distribution, and staffing costs keep climbing while subscriptions and advertisers keep dropping.
The end result? The people covering city council meetings, local sports, and small-town scandals are still your neighbors. The paper they write for? That now takes a road trip before landing on your porch.
Print may not be dead, but it’s definitely commuting.
There’s something surreal about picking up a “local” paper and knowing it took a multi-hour highway run to get there. Sure, the news is the same whether the ink dries in Traverse City or Big Rapids. But for those who still love the smell of fresh newsprint in the morning, the romance is a little lost – replaced by the faint scent of diesel fuel.
