Daily papers cutting Monday publication

Editor & Publisher, the trade journal for the newspaper business, reports today that GateHouse Media, which owns many papers in Missouri, is dropping Monday editions on several newspapers. The article reads in part:

The McPherson (Kan.) Sentinel said Wednesday it is dropping its Monday edition, making the paper the latest GateHouse Media Inc.-owned daily to drop Mondays in cutting costs.

"With skyrocketing newsprint and fuel prices, the writing was on the wall that we were going to have to do something drastic to keep our expenses in line," Publisher Gary Mehl said in a statement. "To cut one publishing day has been one of the most difficult decisions of my 43-year career at The Sentinel.

The Sentinel will not publish next Monday and will become a five-day paper, publishing Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Other GateHouse papers in Kansas are also dropping "at least" one publishing day, Mehl said, including The Augusta Daily Gazette; The Derby Reporter; The El Dorado Times; and the Wellington Daily News.

Two GateHouse papers in Illinois announced in recent weeks they are dropping Monday editions.

If it's happening to papers on either side of the Show-Me State, when will the cuts begin here?

GateHouse Media closed at 69 cents per share today, according to MSN.