New look and change in production serves readers and advertisers

By AMY DUNCAN

Des Moines Register vice president, weekly newspapers

The first question in journalism school is usually this – what’s the point of a newspaper, to make money or cover the news?

My answer is simple – to make enough money so we can cover the news. And that’s the logic behind our recent decision to start printing the Marengo Publishing Corporation products, including the Poweshiek Chronicle Republican and Pennysaver shopper, The Williamsburg Journal Tribune, the Marengo Pioneer Republican, the Iowa County Advertiser, Four County Market and the South Benton Star Press Union, at the Des Moines Register production facility.

For years, Marengo Publishing Corporation really has been two businesses – a newspaper company that publishes newspapers and shoppers, and a printing company that printed those products, as well as other print pieces for other companies.

We have done a great job with each. People value their newspapers and shoppers and the information they receive in them, and our printing customers loved the high quality of the printing they received and the flexibility and professionalism of our printing and design staff.

But businesses that once relied on us for printing are finding new ways to communicate. They send customers information via the Internet or post it on Web sites. They get the information out and they do it more affordably than we could print it. In recent years, we have put a lot of time and effort into chasing a dwindling number of printing jobs, and then even more time and effort into designing them, printing them, inserting them, billing the customers and delivering the work. We were doing it well, but had to question if we wanted to put our limited time and money into being a good printer, or serving our readers and advertisers.

We chose our readers and advertisers.

Moving our production to Des Moines answers many needs. It lowers our costs, allows us to focus on our main jobs – covering the news and serving our advertisers, and gives us access to some of the best printing equipment in the state and the nation.

It was a tough decision. It meant eliminating the jobs of people who have been dedicated, hard-working employees. It meant changing how we produce our products and what they look like, and in a few cases, our deadlines.

But it is the right decision. It’s a decision that keeps our newspapers and shoppers economically strong. It allows us to concentrate our resources on covering the news in our communities and it gives advertisers new options in terms of color and size that will help them grow their businesses.

Change will continue. We may sell our building in Marengo and move to a new local location more suited to our smaller operation. We will continue to look for the most efficient ways to produce and distribute our products. But our core commitment hasn’t changed, and it won’t. We will continue to cover the news in Iowa, Benton and Poweshiek counties. We will continue to help advertisers get their messages out to customers, and we will continue to give readers the information they need to be informed, active citizens in their towns. That’s the point of our newspapers, and that’s where we plan to focus today, and in the future.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at (515) 250-3698 or aduncan@dmreg.com. I am excited to talk to you about the future of our products at Marengo Publishing.

UPDATED October 7, 2009 2:11 PM