The Tuscaloosa News to Drop Saturday Print Edition, Deliver 6 Times Weekly

The Tuscaloosa News, the Druid City's Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, will cease production of its Saturday print edition later this year and shift to delivering papers six days weekly.

The paper, which has existed in Tuscaloosa in some form for two centuries, has gone through several changes in ownership in the last few decades.

Newspaperman Edward Marsh gave the News to the Public Welfare Foundation in the 1960s, who sold it to the New York Times in 1985.

Under NYT ownership, the newspaper built and moved into its iconic home just south of the banks of the Black Warrior River. The Times solid the News to the Halifax Media Group in 2012, who was then acquired by Gatehouse Media three years later.

Gatehouse then merged with Gannett Co., Inc. in 2019 and Gannett, the publisher of USA Today, still owns the newspaper today.

The newspaper sold its building to the city of Tuscaloosa after printing operations were moved to Montgomery, where Gannett owns the Montgomery Advertiser. The site will eventually become the Saban Center, a state-of-the-art STEM learning center financed in part by Nick and Terry Saban's Nick's Kids foundation.

Ken Roberts, the editor of the paper, announced the shift in their print publication plans Wednesday afternoon, citing a shift in consumer behavior away from traditional print products and toward digital news.

"We are still committed to being West Alabama's source for news and sports, but more and more readers receive our coverage through our website, social media and other online outlets," said Ken Roberts, editor of The Tuscaloosa News. "So while subscriber and advertising trends have made this change necessary, we will still be on our subscribers' doorsteps six days a week."

Instead of the print edition, Saturday's news will be delivered in a digital edition that will also include advertising, comics and puzzles.

The change will go into effect on March 26th. Roberts said no current staff employed by the newspaper will be impacted by the change.

Editor's note: The author of this article worked as a staff reporter for the Tuscaloosa News from 2016 until 2018.