EASTON, Pa. — Newsstands and driveways across the Lehigh Valley and Warren County, New Jersey, will be bare this week as The Express-Times' print edition is relegated to history's recycling bin.
After producing a daily paper reporting on the politics, business, sports and quality of life in Northampton County and Warren County for the past 170 years, The Express-Times will publish its final print edition today.
Moving forward, it will exist solely as an online news site.
Officials with Advance Local, the media company that owns The Express-Times and its website, LehighValleyLive.com, did not respond to requests for comment.
"To be honest, I think the fact that they held onto a print edition for as long as they did past the 2008 [financial] crisis is impressive."Brian Creech, Lehigh University journalism department chair
In October, the company announced it would end print publications for The Express-Times and most of its sister papers, including the Newark Star-Ledger and The Times of Trenton.
Another outlet, the Jersey Journal in Hudson County, is ceasing operations entirely. At the time, Advance officials said the shift would let it better support its surviving news operations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The Express-Times attributed the decision to rising costs, decreasing circulation and reduced demand for print.
Subscriptions had fallen 20.4% year-over-year at the time of announcement, the paper reported. However, demand for local news remains high; LehighValleyLive.com reported it attracted 667,000 unique visitors in August.
Changing demands
Brian Creech, chairman of Lehigh University's Journalism Department, said the switch to an exclusively online product was inevitable.
Print journalism has struggled for decades to adapt as readers flocked online, causing advertisers to rethink how they connect with customers, Creech said.
"To be honest, I think the fact that they held onto a print edition for as long as they did past the 2008 [financial] crisis is impressive," he said.
For decades, newspapers served as a bedrock of local communities, providing residents with news updates and a place to celebrate weddings, births and academic achievements.
As the business model for those outlets dried up, many communities have been left without local replacements, Creech said.
Some communities have been left without alternatives.
According to Northwestern University's Local News Initiative, more than 200 counties in America have no local media outlets.
In some places, disreputable automated online publications have cropped up reporting misinformation, Creech said. Some experts call these outlets pink-slime journalism; they masquerade as independent news operations but serve the interests of corporations or political partisans, he said.
The region's media
The Lehigh Valley is fortunate that it hasn't found itself in that situation, Creech said.
News competition is fierce among LehighValleyLive.com; Lehigh Valley Public Media's television, radio and digital offerings, including LehighValleyNews.com; The Morning Call daily newspaper; WFMZ's independent television newscast; the Lehigh Valley Press' weekly newspapers; and a host of other niche publications such as Lehigh Valley Style and Lehigh Valley Business.
"I think the existence of all the outlets here means there is a healthy enough economy for all these organizations."Brian Creech
The valley, he said, makes for an interesting case study. Unlike Pennsylvania as a whole, the region has a growing population capable of supporting a diverse media landscape.
"I think the existence of all the outlets here means there is a healthy enough economy for all these organizations," he said.
With digital news claiming a larger chunk of the media landscape, Lehigh is preparing its journalism students for an evolving industry, Creech said.
The heart of journalism — developing sources, sussing out stories and reporting them accurately — remains the same, he said.
But since media companies increasingly don't own the platforms on which their news appears, students need to develop skill sets that will let them deliver news wherever their target audience goes.
"At its core, it's information that allows people to engage in their communities in a rewarding way," Creech said. "Finding ways to do that in your local community is incredibly valuable."
