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Page A 2- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 5, 1985
New Student Edition

The Daily drops to 5-day circulation

Editors ................. Marla Gold
Rachel Gottlieb
News Staff: Laura Bischoff, Ann
Carlson, Andrew Eriksen, Leela Fer-
nandes, David Goodwin, Susan Grant,
Steve Herz, Thomas Hrach, Nadine
Lavagnino, John Logie, Eric Mattson,
Kery Murakami, Janice Plotnik,
Pamela Price, Christy Riedel, Katie
Wilcox.
Sports Editor.........Adam Martin
Sports Staff: Dave Aretha, Debbie
deFrances, Joe Devyak, Leslie Hamel,
Steve Herz, Rick Kaplan, Mark Kovin-
sky, Scott Miller, Phil Nussel, Steve
Wise.

Chief Photographers .....Dan Habib
Darrian Smith
Photography Staff: Alisa Block, Kate
O'Leary.
Cover photographs
by Dan Habib
Sales Manager ..... Mary Anne Hogan
Assistant Sales Manager . Cynthia Nixon
Display Managers ..... Sheryl Biesman
Kellie Worley
Account Executives: Sheryl Biesman,
Harry Bucalo, Yuna Lee, Beth Lybik,
Cynthia Nixon.
Special thanks to summer Editor in
Chief Eric Mattson and Daily page com-
poser Lucius Doyle.

By JOHN LOGIE
Beginning this fall, The Michigan
Daily will reduce its publication
schedule from six to five days a week
for the first time in its 96-year history.
The decision to publish Monday
through Friday instead of Tuesday
through Sunday was unanimously ap-
proved at the July Board for Student
Publications meeting, although the
writing staffs of the newspaper
vehemently opposed the change.
ALSO APPROVED at the meeting
was a staff decision to distribute the
paper around campus for free.
The Daily's business staff, which
rallied for the five-day paper, argued
that the shorter publishing week was
necessary to start bringing profits to
the Daily, which has run a deficit for
seven of the last 10 years.
But the news, sports, and arts staffs
argued that the switch from six to five
days would hamper coverage of
weekend events, including regents
meetings on Fridays and sports even-
ts on Fridays and Saturdays.
AT THE MEETING, Editor in Chief
Neil Chase argued that "by cutting
one day out, you're not losing one-
sixth of your news, you're losing a
reliable source of news for your
readers."
He also said sports writers would
lose learning opportunities with a
five-day paper. "If you don't have the
experience of covering a sporting
event on Saturday and having to write
for a Saturday night deadline forSun-
day's paper.. .you're not going to learn
what sportswriting is all about," he.
said.

Business Manager Dawn Willacker
said the change was necessary to
cover the costs incurred from "free-
drop" distribution.
"WE WERE LOOKING at, in going
to any kind of free-drop, a tremendous
amount in deficit spending," she said.
"From a business standpoint, the best
strategy for the paper to take when
going to free-drop was a five-day
distribution schedule."
Under Willacker's planned budget,
a six-day free-drop paper would cost
$32,000 more than a five-day.
The Daily staff voted in February to
eliminate the 15-cent charge per pap-
er and increase circulation by about
7,000 copies in hopes that the paper
would regain the wide support it held
until the early '70s.
UNDER THE PLAN, the paper
would increase advertising and turn a
profit because of the higher cir-
culation.
Writing staff members said they
feel frustrated with the change,
primarily because they feel that
neither side was willing to com-
promise.
"I don't think the business staff
made an effort to keep it at six days1
once they got the idea for a five-day
paper," said summer Editor in ChiefE
Eric Mattson. He said the free-drop
plan should have been tried for a
while to see how well it did before
making the change to five days. .
BUT, MATTSON SAID, "I don't
know that the board could in good
conscience approve a deficit that on
paper looked like it would put the
Daily under within a few years." He

The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967 X) is published Monday through
Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of
Michigan. Subscription rates: September through April - $20 in town,
$35 out of town.
The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and sub-
scribes to United Press International, College Press Service, Pacific
News Service, and Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
Phone Numbers: News room, (313) 764-0552; Arts, 763-0379; Sports, 763-
0376; Circulation, 764-0558; Classified Advertising, 764-0557; Display Ad-
%etising, 764-0560; Billing, 764-0550.
STUDENTS
Don't wait for a little bird to bring you messages
Get a voice mailbox

added that he is skeptical of the ac-
curacy of the figures.
Willacker said that with the
estimated budget she had drawn up,
the Daily could have afforded to
distribute the paper free on a six-day
basis for two years, but judging from
another college paper that went to
free distribution, shethought that a
successful free-drop would probably
take three years.
Thomas Hrach, summer managing
editor, said, "I thought it was a shame
that both sides had to go into the
meeting with very opposite points of
view, and that people outside of the
building had to make the decision
based just on what they heard in the
meeting.
"BETTER THAT BOTH sides come
up with a compromise, and bring that
compromise to the board, saying,
'This is what we all want."'
Mattson said the news staff did not
think the business staff's recommen-
dation would be taken seriously, so
they did not draw up a counter-plan
until a few days before the meeting.

Doily Photo by KATE O'LEARY:
"The idea seemed so ludicrous to
me...I still think it's ludicrous," hef
said. "We just assumed that ourk 2
argument was strong enough. AlS-
parently it wasn't."
THE DAILY editorial staff urged-'
the board at the meeting to conside
alternatives to save money, such as~
eliminatingwriters' salaries and
having reporters and editors'
distribute the newspaper.
But Board Secretary Nancy
McGlothlin, who helped figure out the
budget, said, "I don't think we had
any options. I honestly feel (five-day
circulation) was the only way we
could go this particular year, faced'
with the deficits we're facing."
"I feel good about standing behind
the proposal I made to the board, but I
don't feel good about the drop in thb'
morale it's created," Willacker said
and added that the distribution plan:
will minimize financial risks to tht-
paper.
But the board's decision is notK '
irreversible. If the financial outlook of'
the paper improves, it could go back
to six-day as early as January, and
will definitely return to six-day next' 4
fall unless the financial situation does:
not improve.
"The solution is to make a lot of
money, and then there will be no !
reason to keep the paper at five
days," Mattson said.
The Daily can still be delivered for;
$20 in town or $35 out of town.

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