NAC chief hails the switch to Morning News

Converting the Deseret News into a morning newspaper, now under way, is necessary and prudent, says Joe Zerbey, president and CEO of the Newspaper Agency Corp., the printing, advertising and circulation agent of Salt Lake City's two dailies for more than 50 years.

"Salt Lake absolutely can sustain two morning daily publications," he said, speaking to the Salt Lake Rotary Club Tuesday afternoon at the Downtown Marriott Hotel. "There are many cities that boast two competing morning dailies. . . . In fact, if the News didn't switch publication cycles, its very survival would be in question."

During the past 12 years, one-third, or 340, of all afternoon daily newspapers in the United States have folded, he said.

The Deseret News is in Part 1 of a three-phase conversion to morning. On March 31, all single-copy outlets and racks began selling morning editions, and all parts of the state that had already been receiving the Deseret News as a morning paper began getting an improved product. On May 5, Utah County and Wasatch County subscribers will get the News as a morning paper. Finally, on June 9, all remaining subscribers will have a morning edition — to officially and universally then be known as the Deseret Morning News.

Zerbey said that Dean Singleton, publisher/owner of the competing Salt Lake Tribune, did the opposite of previous Tribune owners by assisting in this conversion to morning process.

"Remember, you don't become a newspaper kingpin by letting egos get in the way of a healthy bottom line," Zerbey said. "You get there by producing high-quality, dependable newspapers and making sound business decisions."

"Singleton knows what's good for the Deseret News is good for the Trib," Zerbey said.

He said editorially, the two newspapers will remain as competitive as ever, and that's a plus for all of Utah. Together the papers own and are served by the NAC through what is called a joint operating agreement, or JOA.

"As business leaders, you know that competition brings out the best, and newspapers are no exception — JOA or not," Zerbey said.

Also, he believes the litigation with the Tribune's past owners is nearing a positive end.

He said there currently are 12 JOAs in the nation, including those in Denver, Seattle, Detroit, Las Vegas and Cincinnati. They make sense financially and editorially, he added.