By Isabela Fraga
The newspaper Diário de Natal, which circulates in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, announced the end of its print edition on Tuesday, Oct. 2, reported the news website No Minuto. In a statement, the newspaper's management said the newspaper would transition to an online-only format and that it would "prioritize and amplify the electronic version."
According to the newspaper Tribuna do Norte, the president of the Diários Associados (Associated Newspapers), the group that owns Diário de Natal, made the decision based on the newspaper's negative financial results over the last several years. The Rio Grande do Norte Union of Journalists released a statement criticizing how the company communicated the decision to workers, reported Blog do BG.
While the director of Diário de Natal cited financial reasons for the end of the print version, other newspapers in Brazil are stronger than ever. At the beginning of September 2012, print circulation of newspapers was up 2.3 percent in the South American country. Since 2010, only the newspaper Jornal do Brasil has ended its print edition.
Diário de Natal noted that it has joined the growing global trend of newspaper cutting their print editions in favor of online-only publications. Recently, the reduction of print runs for The New Orleans Times-Picayune has left New Orleans the biggest city in the United States without a daily newspaper.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
