We are TheSaltLakeTribune, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper in Utah. We are shifting from a daily print edition to a weekly print edition, starting in 2021. AMA.

I would love to gift a subscription to a former Utah resident who now lives overseas, but the site is not GDPR compliant. Will the Tribune be making an effort to meet compliancy so that I may give you more money?

We are launching an updated website soon (in November), and it will be available in the European Union. We appreciate your patience.

Digital divide is still a real thing on the Wasatch Front. How do plan to reach readers that have little to no internet access?

We have made unlimited access to our website free at all public libraries in the state, and all have computers available to the public. We will also have the weekly print edition available for home delivery.

With your move to non-profit and this move, it seems like the slt is really redefining what it means to be a local paper. Are there other local papers/news outlets in the USA that you see as inspiration or just doing a really good job in this climate? Or are y'all having to think through this from scratch?

We are breaking trail, and we expect some other legacy newspapers to follow. It's a particularly difficult move for a newspaper in a publicly traded for-profit chain, but for other, smaller newspaper companies, we hope to be a model. Yes. it's pretty much from scratch.

I know the JOA was a big weight around the Tribune's neck for several years, but it also has to feel sad to see the daily print edition fall away. Is there any sense of relief/optimism that this move frees up resources to put into reporting rather than publishing costs? Is this move more proactive about where journalism is going as an industry, or reactive to the realities of the marketplace?

Also, more of a comment than a question: But I just fan girl so hard on all of y'all and the crucial work your do for your community. Thank you!

Definitely pro-active. We are not shrinking in any way from our journalistic role in Utah. We're just going where the readers are, and more and more that is digital.

What is the real reason Jennifer Napier-Pearce resigned?

Jennifer had differences with the board chairman, Paul Huntsman, over newsroom coverage and policies, as she told the board in her resignation letter.

Will the move to daily digital news allow the Trib to maintain, or even improve, their non-biased investigative journalism? With the ever-encroaching threat of fake news sites, the need for a coalition of journalists with integrity is essential. What plans does the Trib have to keep factual reporting at the forefront, as these sites continue to draw pageviews?

The news industry in general is moving away from mere page views to develop more audience loyalty. We offer quality, and that has a more lasting effect than the momentary rushes on clickbait and disinformation sites.

Does this mean there'll be more of a push to ensure GDPR compliance so European citizens can read? It sucks I haven't been able to read for years now

We are launching an updated website soon (in November), and it will be available in the European Union. We appreciate your patience.

Any idea what will happen to the printing facility on 5600 W?

In an earlier amendment to the agreement, the Deseret News became the sole owner of the printing plant. I believe they intend to close it as a printing facility, but I don't know what they plan to do with it.

As a current digital subscriber, I have a couple questions. What day will that print edition be printed / distributed? Will there be any home delivery of a physical edition?

I would love to have my 'Sunday Paper' to read, but I have a feeling that the overriding view in Utah is that Sunday is sacrosanct.

We're still looking at options, but we expect that the weekly print edition will be delivered by mail on Saturdays along the Wasatch Front. Other locations may not see it until the following week's mail. It will be up to readers if they want to save it for the next morning so it can be a Sunday paper. We're good with that.

Roughly speaking, what would be the total daily expense of running the paper?

Newsroom costs alone are more than $10,000 a day. Printing and distributing are on top of that. Dropping to once a week printing will lower printing and distribution costs, but newsroom costs will be roughly the same.

with such fixed costs, it seems like expansion would be a more viable option, but is there a natural limit to how much of a subscriber base you think would be feasible?

If you're talking about expanding print, the market isn't there. There are fewer print readers every day. That's why we're going the other way. Did I answer your question? I wasn't sure what you meant by expansion.

I suppose I mean total revenue, but I'm assuming that everything depends on size of readership. It seems like a digital viewer is less valuable revenue-wise than a print viewer -- is that the case or are they somehow bring in more money?

It's more a matter of serving both print and digital as long as there is enough market in print. Print can produce more revenue per reader (readers willing to pay more), but it also has more costs. It used to be that print made enough money that print readers essentially subsidized digital readers. But that gap has closed.

in terms of digital revenue, what would you need in order to adopt/switch to a micro transaction (e.g. 10c-$1 per article) platform?

Microtransactions would have to catch on more widely before we would venture there. It's been talked about for years, but no one has come with a model to emulate.

So fundamentally it is an adoption problem first?

Yes, and I'm not sure we'll ever get past the adoption problem. The technology for micropayments has existed for a while, but essentially no one in news publishing has made it work effectively.

How will you handle transition to online platforms that are becoming increasingly biased due to they nature of how algorithms promote engagement?

Breaking through on Facebook and Twitter can be challenging for local news organizations, but we do it everyday. And, ultimately, we encourage readers to come directly to us at sltrib.com rather than relying solely on their social media feeds to surface their news. We're a destination worth your time.

Thanks so much for everyone’s questions! We really appreciate it. If you have more questions, let us know! Twitter: @sltrib Facebook: @saltlaketribune  Instagram: @sltrib Reddit: u/thesaltlaketribune

How long you think until you stop printing papers all together?

That's hard to say. It depends on the readership. I will say that we wouldn't be trying a weekly if we didn't think we can make it last years. How many years is the question.

Oh I'm not sure. I wanted to press on the line of questioning of do people truly read physical papers anymore? (They do read of course but from my perspective it seems all online, even my gen x parents are completely online now)

Not to mention just the costs. Ink, paper, presses, salaries. Is it not incredibly cheaper to just post an article online?

So to refine my oriental question a bit more, How long until the physical papers doomsday in your estimation? Things change I'm not trying to pin you down and get an exact time and date but an guesstimate I suppose is all I'm looking for

First, a little perspective. In 2005, I gave seven-day print 10 more years. I was off by 5 years because I underestimated our print readers' devotion to print. Print readership steadily declined, but those who kept subscribing were the most dedicated. Most papers, us included, were able to raise subscription rates on those who remained. But that dedicated core of print readers doesn't really grow. It only shrinks, however slowly. So now we see how that plays out with a weekly. We would love to attract new subscribers to the weekly, but we expect the bulk of subscribers to be former buyers of the daily print product. If the weekly core audience is similarly dedicated, we could get five years or more. In the meantime, we expect digital readership to grow significantly.

Do you realize you just published a picture with graffiti dicks on it?

That photo was taken with our new drone! All of our photographers have become FAA certified to use the drone to take aerial photos of our beautiful state. This includes the now run-down Raging Waters park and some creative artwork there. Here's the story for those who are curious (the photo in question is part of the gallery). https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2020/10/30/salt-lake-city-wants/#gallery-carousel-8935599

I’m sorry, but you dodged the question.

Do you realize you published graffiti dicks and how do you feel about doing so?

I don’t think any of your reporters would let a politician dodge a dick pic question by talking about drone certification. So don’t dodge.

Readers pointed that out to us this morning and we switched out the main photo on our story. We try to be sensitive to inappropriate graffiti and signs. This one got past us.