Greenwood Commonwealth begins publishing five days a week

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The Commonwealth will no longer publish a print edition on Mondays due to advertising declines, company officials have announced.

The change to producing a print edition Tuesday through Friday afternoons and Sunday morning went into effect this month.

"We hate to drop Monday, but the business reality is that advertising has declined, especially for the Monday edition," said Wyatt Emmerich, president of Emmerich Newspapers, owner of the Commonwealth and 24 other newspapers, most of them in Mississippi. "We are doing our utmost to continue to provide professional news coverage for our communities on a daily basis, but this is becoming increasingly difficult with changing technology."

The company's two other daily newspapers, in McComb and Greenville, are eliminating their Monday editions as well.

Tim Kalich, the Commonwealth's editor and publisher, announced the change to the newspaper's staff and to its carriers.

He said it was a difficult decision but was the most sensible to get the paper's expenses in line with its revenues. He said only one position at the newspaper will be eliminated as a result of the change in frequency.

Kalich said the plan on Mondays is to operate with a skeleton news staff to cover any important breaking news and to post it online. Obituaries submitted on Monday mornings by area funeral homes will also be posted that day to the website.

All other departments at the paper will be staffed normally on Mondays, and the office will be open as always from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Kalich encouraged print subscribers to sign up for online access to the newspaper's website, www.gwcommonwealth.com, and to register to get emailed alerts on breaking news stories. Full access to the website comes at no extra charge with a subscription to home delivery. Presently, about 25 percent of the newspaper's print subscribers are also registered for online access.

He said that the newspaper is committed to giving the community as much local news as before. "It just will be delivered over five editions rather than six," he said.

The subscription cost, which has not been raised in almost four years, will remain $12 a month.

Greenwood, Kalich, frequency of publication
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