NATCHEZ — Beginning July 1, The Natchez Democrat will change its print publication days to Tuesday through Friday and Sundays, no longer producing printed editions on Mondays and Saturdays.

The move to print five days per week will help the community’s top media organization better align resources with its core mission: informing readers and guiding customers to our advertisers. The newspaper will continue providing news coverage through digital products, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The decision has been considered thoroughly over the past several months and was ultimately driven by two key factors.

First, rapid increases in newsprint costs, driven by recent and substantial tariffs, have caused a nearly 30-percent increase in materials costs, with no clear end in rising newsprint prices in sight. This has driven similar changes in publication cycle across the newspaper industry.

The two least profitable print editions of the newspaper will be eliminated, thus allowing realignment of resources to best serve our customers’ needs and invest in continued quality journalism for our community.

Second, the move helps The Democrat best match the printed newspaper’s frequency with changing reader trends of more people accessing news and information from its website on computers and mobile devices. The newspaper’s website, natchezdemocrat.com is read by more than 10,000 people each day.

“The change will allow our staff to focus more precisely on producing a quality community print newspaper on the days readers and advertisers have proven matter to them most,” said Democrat publisher Kevin Cooper. “It also allows our news staff and sales team to invest more time and energy in development of our digital publishing products which continue to grow rapidly in use by our readers and advertisers.

The Democrat’s news staff will continue to produce stories and photos and publish those digitally in a 24-hour news cycle, seven days a week, as we have for a number of years.

“Over the last decade particularly, some newspaper readers have migrated from print newspapers to newspaper websites for their primary news source,” Cooper said. “Community newspapers, such as ours, are fortunate because we continue to have a healthy print newspaper audience, but reading habits have changed, too. Ours is the largest media company in the community that employs journalists and top marketing professionals. So we are fortunate that as media has evolved, the combination of print and digital reading and marketing preference aligns perfectly with the skills and know-how of our staff. Making this move positions our company to continue to thrive as the dominant media outlet in the Natchez area.

“Our community media company has served our community since 1865, and we plan to continue doing so proudly for many, many years to come.”

The print newspaper will continue to be delivered to subscribers by independent contract carriers in most locations and by U.S. Postal Service in some areas.

The subscription price of the printed newspaper, some of which have been delivered at a loss to the company for years due to high delivery costs in rural areas, will remain the same.

Readers with questions about these changes are encouraged to contact us at: circulation@natchezdemocrat.com or 601-445-3537.