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Tribune Sees Huge Demand for Post-Election Newspapers
Single Copies Selling Out, Markets Printing Additional Copies
Newspaper Website Traffic Reaching Record Levels
CHICAGO, IL, November 5, 2008 -- On the day following Barack Obama’s election as the next president of the United States, Tribune Company announced it was experiencing historic demand for its newspapers in each of the eight markets it serves across the country.
"This is a clear demonstration that people continue turning to their local newspaper to help them understand and interpret the news of the day, and that is especially true when big events happen," said Randy Michaels, Tribune’s chief operating officer. "This kind of demand for our newspapers is unlike anything we’ve experienced in recent history. The traffic at our newspaper web sites is also way up -- yesterday, the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times sites experienced a record-breaking number of page views."
In anticipation of the increased demand, Tribune newspapers increased press runs in some markets by as much as 10 to 100 percent. Many of the company’s newspapers will continue printing additional copies throughout today. Some highlights:
- The Los Angeles Times expects to sell 100,000 more copies than it does on a typical Wednesday.
- Obama’s hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, increased its press run last evening by several thousand copies and will print and distribute an additional 200,000 copies today.
- The Baltimore Sun increased last night’s press run 100 percent, is printing more copies today, and will make still more copies of today’s newspaper available for sale tomorrow in most locations across the city.
- Both of the company’s newspapers in the battleground state of Florida, the Sentinel in Orlando and the Sun Sentinel in South Florida, experienced unprecedented demand -- each printed an additional 12,000 copies for their respective markets.
- The Courant, in Hartford, Conn., printed an additional 15,000 copies, the Daily Press, in Newport News, Va., printed an additional 12,000, and the Allentown Morning Call an additional 3,500.
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TRIBUNE is America’s largest employee-owned media company, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. In publishing, Tribune’s leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, Morning Call and Daily Press. The company’s broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, WGN America on national cable, Chicago’s WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune’s print and broadcast properties and extend the company’s nationwide audience. At Tribune we take what we do seriously and with a great deal of pride. We also value the creative spirit and are nurturing a corporate culture that doesn’t take itself too seriously. |
