Editor: Plant closing is bittersweet; provides opportunities for positive changes to morning Press Democrat print edition

Tremendous change and challenges in our industry also can provide meaningful opportunities, I believe.

As we reported in mid-January, The Press Democrat will shutter its Rohnert Park printing and production facility after Sunday’s press run, ending a four-decade operation that churned out an estimated 845 million copies since its opening.

Yes, you read that correctly: Those rumbling iron beasts in Rohnert Park have published an estimated 845 million ink-on-paper editions since its presses started rolling May 27, 1986.

It’s a bittersweet move in many ways.

Closing the plant protects the long-term quality of our local journalism. It means additional resources can be invested to better cover Sonoma County and pursue important community stories.

Now, more than ever, fair and fearless local journalism matters – and is needed. While many other newsrooms around the country are sadly shrinking or even abandoning the markets they once served for generations, The Press Democrat continues to expand its staff. We will not retreat from our First Amendment responsibilities or abandon the loyal readers we so diligently and proudly serve.

And, I must emphasize, there are no plans to stop delivering morning editions seven-days-a-week to front porches and driveways across our readership area.

But its closure also means 42 hardworking employees, who, combined account for 708 years of service, will lose positions when we shift production Monday night to the San Francisco Chronicle’s East Bay production facility in Fremont.

We’ve worked diligently these past two months to provide career counseling, job fairs and other services to help our beloved and respected press crews find new jobs, in addition to providing severance packages.

We will miss them – their professionalism, craftsmanship and unflinching commitment to telling the day’s biggest and most important stories for 36 years.

As Steve Falk, our CEO and publisher explained to our staff and readers in January, “This decision was difficult, but inevitable.”

That’s largely because of surging expenses to maintain our aging equipment; technological advancements that have shifted readers habits away from print newspapers to smartphones and digital sites, such as pressdemocrat.com; and, finally, a companywide commitment to invest in the expansion of high-quality, locally focused journalism.

Starting Tuesday, you’ll see some notable changes and improvements in both your morning edition and in the digital products we create – from our award-winning pressdemocrat.com site to our collection of newsletters and social media offerings.

Here are some important things you need to know:

• As we said in January, moving to Fremont means we will have earlier deadlines than we now enjoy at Rohnert Park. Starting Monday, presses will start around 8 p.m., which is about three hours earlier than today.

• That means late-breaking stories from the previous evening and some sports scores and game coverage will not be in the next-day’s print edition. We will, however, have complete coverage on pressdemocrat.com – continuing our commitment to covering the news as it happens – and on our Facebook page and Twitter account.

• For sports fans, we are introducing a new (and free) newsletter called “First Pitch.” It debuts Tuesday morning and will offer the previous night’s scores and stats and plenty of local coverage, but also embedded videos, links to regional and national columnists and well-crafted sports stories that go even deeper than what we now provide.

• You can subscribe to it by visiting pressdemocrat.com/newsletters and clicking on the “First Pitch” sign-up button.
• We’ll no longer publish lottery numbers on Page A2. Nightly drawings are done after our new print deadlines, and we want to avoid being two days behind with that information. However, all lottery numbers will be found at pressdemocrat.com.

• The presses in Fremont produce a slightly smaller newspaper – shrunk by about an inch vertically -- than what we’re now delivering. That means we had to make some very tough decisions on certain standing features, particularly on our weekday and Saturday comics page.

• You may remember I asked for your thoughts in January on which comics to keep and ones to potentially lose. I heard from hundreds and hundreds of you, and I reviewed every suggestion.

• After much reflection, we decided to eliminate these three: Rex Morgan, Sally Forth and Mutts from the Monday-Saturday comics page. If you’re a die-hard fan of them, you can still find them on our pressdemocrat.com/comics page and they’ll still appear in the Sunday paper.

• We are also adding a new one to the daily mix, Baldo. It’s a critically acclaimed strip written by former California editor and reporter Hector Cantu and illustrated by Carlos Castellanos. It focuses on a Latino teenager named Baldomero “Baldo” Bermudez, who is navigating his teen years – from cars and classrooms to girls – with his family and best friends.

• In a community with such a prominent Latino population, we felt it was important to bring more diversity to our morning comics. My hope is more younger Latino readers – and even their parents – will see themselves and their families in The Press Democrat.

• We are combining our Sunday Sonoma Life and Towns sections. It will give readers an even broader assortment of community-focused stories and features that showcases dining, the outdoors, books and local historical essays.

• We also are separating our Sunday Review. Instead, you’ll have a Nation & World section – just like we produce throughout the week – and a separate Forum & Commentary section. In a community where readers care so much about local issues, we felt our editorial voice and letters from our readers needed to be showcased in a more prominent manner on Sundays.

• Finally, we are adding a new daily “Good Morning, Sonoma County” feature on Page A2. It’s a quick and snappy collection of must-read items – from the weather to photos that you provide us -- to get your day started.

There’s a concept in business known as continuous process improvement, and a big part of it involves responding to changing customer needs and evolving business environments. It's used in newspapers, as well.

The Press Democrat is doing what hundreds of newspapers – big and small – have already done: Consolidate with another regional publisher so energy, resources and critical dollars can be invested in local journalism.

Change is not always easy, I know, especially when the editor is messing around with your comics page.

But we have put a great amount of time, energy and creativity in revamping The Press Democrat in the face of those changes and challenges that confront us. We know thousands of you still start your day with it, and we have worked hard to maintain your high expectations. I am incredibly grateful for your loyal readership and subscriptions. It’s what funds our newsroom and makes possible our pursuit of relevant local information.

Undoubtedly, you’ll have questions, feedback or ideas. Please, don’t hesitate to send them my way.

More than ever, thanks for reading The Press Democrat.

Richard Green is our executive editor and chief content officer of Sonoma Media Investments. Contact him at rick.green@pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @EditorRAG