Batavia Daily News faces new challenge: Loss of USA Today printing contract

When William Allen White bought the Emporia (Kansas) Gazette in 1895 for $3,000 he probably didn't even dream that one day he would be America's most popular and famous small town newspaper editor.

Long before White became nationally known as a leader of progressive Republicans and the "Sage of Emporia," his immediate concern was: Survival.

There were at least three other newspapers in Emporia when he bought the weakest, least profitable of the group.

One his first tasks was landing some lucrative printing contracts. It would be some years before the Gazette made much money from advertising. White could afford to pay himself and his editorial staff largely because of piece-work printing.

White's experience is hardly unique. Most of the newspapers that survived the early tumultuous days of printed journalism relied heavily on outside print jobs.

Those big, bulky, dirty presses are expensive to run and maintain. The big iron is part of the mythology of journalism, but those presses are not really earning their keep when they're sitting still.

Fewer and fewer newspapers these days print their own editions, but those that still retain a printing operation aggressively seek print jobs. It's an important part of their cash flow.

In that light, our friends at the Daily News received some disturbing news yesterday. Gannett informed the company that it is moving the regional print run of USA Today from Batavia to Rochester, where Gannett prints and owns the Democrat and Chronicle. The Daily will print USA Today for 12 more months.

By its own account, the Daily has done a fine job of printing USA Today. There's no doubt that's true. Print quality is exceptionally important to a graphic-oriented paper like USA Today. The Daily could not have kept the contract for 24 years without delivering quality results. The team that worked on USA Today -- and I've met a couple of them -- should be proud of the work they did.

This move is certainly a financial consideration by Gannett.

But surely it has a tremendous financial impact on Batavia's only daily print publication.

So far, General Manager Tom Turnbull hasn't publicly discussed what that impact will be.

Ever since The Batavian first came to town, I've heard from a number of people around the area that the Daily's profitability is tightly bound to the USA Today contract.

I've no way of knowing if that's true, but many people seem to think so, therefore it's a point worth raising. It is suggested that Mr. Turnbull act quickly to assure the community that his corner of the Johnson Newspaper chain will remain strong and intact.

Newspapers are important facet of a community's life and vibrancy. No person who cares about a community's welfare wants to see its newspaper struggle.

I've been asked what this development means for The Batavian. I hope, honestly, nothing. I'm busy and focused on building a business that can sustain me and my wife and hopefully employ a few people in the not-too-distant future. I don't see The Batavian's success dependent on, or tied to, what happens at the Daily. There's no reason both media companies, along with WBTA radio of course, cannot thrive.

Even if this news is as bad as some might assume, I wouldn't count the Daily out. The company is staffed by a group of bright, hard-working, creative and intelligent people who won't just roll over. If there is a plan to make up the lost Gannett revenue -- and we don't really know this for sure based on Mr. Turnbull's statements thus far --  we should all expect the Daily staff to succeed.

For the community's sake, we should all wish them well in that task and root for their success.