From: "Gragert, Jeremy Evan" <GRAGERJE@uwec.edu> Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:12:09 -0600 Subject: News about the Madison Capital Times Message-ID: <DC9F505A4ACB32489179913AE656565940A7FC6F6D@CHERRYCOKE.uwec.edu>
Capital Times unveils major shift to Internet
February 7, 2008
Late this spring The Capital Times will dramatically enhance its Internet s
ite as well as alter its print frequency from six days to two days per week
to address changing habits of afternoon newspaper readers, company executi
ves announced Thursday.
Publisher Clayton Frink said the newspaper's online site, captimes.com, wil
l feature increased volume, depth and timeliness of news, opinion and other
information. He said the printed edition of the newspaper will expand its
distribution by about five times and switch from six-day publication to two
weekly tabloid-size editions.
"The Capital Times has been a progressive media voice in Madison for 90 yea
rs, and this move allows us to preserve that legacy and, in fact, reach far
more people than ever before," Frink said.
Beginning April 30, the news and opinion edition of The Capital Times will
be published on Wednesdays. It will be distributed with home-delivered Wisc
onsin State Journal subscriptions throughout and just beyond Dane County an
d offered free throughout the Madison area in newspaper racks. It will offe
r in-depth news and public affairs stories as well as the newspaper's highl
y regarded opinion and commentary content, Frink said.
The Capital Times will also produce a weekly arts, entertainment and cultur
e section that will be distributed on Thursdays with the Wisconsin State Jo
urnal and offered free in newspaper racks in the Madison area. It will repl
ace the current Rhythm publication, which is co-produced with the State Jou
rnal and appears in both newspapers.
With its new distribution, The Capital Times will have a circulation of mor
e than 80,000. Current circulation is 17,072. The date of final daily publi
cation is Saturday, April 26. Subscribers of The Capital Times will receive
a letter in coming weeks with information about their account.
It was also announced that Paul Fanlund will become editor of The Capital T
imes, effective immediately, having been executive editor since August 2006
. "We believe our plan to combine an outstanding news and information web s
ite with in-depth, magazine-style weekly tabloids is on the mark for the fu
ture," Fanlund said. "This move is vital to ensuring the long-term relevanc
e of the Cap Times."
Fanlund assumes the role in which Dave Zweifel has served since 1983. The 6
7-year-old Zweifel announced he will assume the new title of editor emeritu
s. He will continue to write his regular columns for the newspaper's websit
e and Wednesday edition and oversee the paper's opinion content with Associ
ate Editor John Nichols.
"Our founder, William T. Evjue, had to make many tough decisions to ensure
The Capital Times success through the years he ran the newspaper," Zweifel
said. "Just as he had to deal with the changing technology of his day, we'r
e making these changes to ensure that his vision of Wisconsin progressivism
and his insistence that a newspaper must champion truth and justice for al
l the people will continue far into the future."
"Moving our resources to the web is the wave of the future," Zweifel added.
"Thousands of readers are already using captimes.com and, frankly, we're o
ften blown away by the volume of responses we get to columns and stories at
a time when we're devoting limited resources to the site. Putting the full
force our newsroom on the site will extend the reach and relevance of The
Capital Times for years and years to come."
The changes will result in a smaller workforce in The Capital Times newsroo
m and in other areas of Capital Newspapers, though the size of the change h
as not been finalized. A voluntary separation program for employees will be
part of the transition.
As an afternoon newspaper, The Capital Times circulation had reached its pe
ak in 1966. Publishing for afternoon distribution was once a coveted positi
on in newspapering, but almost all p.m. newspapers in two-newspaper markets
have disappeared over the past two decades.
The Capital Times was created in 1917 by the late William T. Evjue as a pro
gressive media voice and that tradition continues today. He founded the pap
er at the height of World War I and in the early years his newspaper surviv
ed several advertising boycotts to become the dominant paper in the Madison
area.
In 1948, Evjue reached an agreement with Lee Enterprises, the owners of the
Wisconsin State Journal, to form a new corporation that was then named Mad
ison Newspapers, Inc. Although the agreement combined the advertising, circ
ulation and production departments of the newspapers, it ensured two comple
tely independent newsrooms. Because there was now just one press, The Capit
al Times elected to continue in the afternoon while the State Journal took
the morning field and the Sunday newspaper.
The Capital Times Co. and Lee Enterprises continue to each own 50 percent o
f what today is known as Capital Newspapers, which in addition to publishin
g The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal, owns the Portage Daily
Register, Baraboo News-Republic, Beaver Dam Citizen and several weeklies a
nd shoppers in south central Wisconsin.
When Evjue died in 1970, his will directed that the William T. Evjue Charit
able Trust hold his controlling stock in The Capital Times and that the pro
ceeds be given to The Evjue Foundation, which he established several years
before his death. Today, the foundation annually contributes more than $2 m
illion to local cultural, educational and non-profit community projects and
will continue to do so.