Des Moines Register
04-20-06
Register will drop its free shopper in most of metro
However, the newspaper will continue to publish the Ankeny Press Citizen.
By DONNELLE ELLER
REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER
The Des Moines Register said Wednesday it will stop publishing the weekly
Press Citizen in the Des Moines metro area, with the exception of Ankeny.
The last edition of the free shopper in most of the Des Moines-area markets will
be May 17.
Susan Patterson Plank, vice president of marketing and digital development at
the Register, said 21 of the Press Citizen's 29 employees will be offered new
positions either at the Register, the Ankeny Press Citizen or one of the Register's
other weeklies.
The eight employees who will be laid off will receive severance packages based
on tenure.
The Register purchased the Press Citizen two years ago as a way of providing
"very local information" to central Iowa communities, Patterson Plank said.
The newspaper decided to cut the Press Citizen's distribution because of the
success of the Register's community publications, which are distributed three
times a week to subscribers in West Des Moines, Clive, Urbandale, Johnston,
Waukee and Ankeny. There are three editions for Des Moines.
The Register distributes its community publications to nonsubscribers once a
week.
"Our community publications have truly exceeded our expectations," Patterson
Plank said. "They have reached out into communities and are serving the
markets well."
Kim Smith, a professor of journalism at Iowa State University, said it
probably makes little sense for the Register to have community newspapers that
compete for the same advertising dollars.
"It sounds like a good business decision," he said.
The suburbs are growing markets for newspapers, he said. "It's where the people
live and advertisers want to target."
The Press Citizen has served Des Moines, West Des Moines, Urbandale,
Waukee, Johnston and Altoona.
Patterson Plank said the Register will continue publishing the Ankeny Press
Citizen because of its success.
The Register will honor contracts that advertisers have with the Press Citizen.
Based on the number of readers reached, advertising costs in the Register's
community publications will be less than the Press Citizen, Patterson Plank said.