Clayton News Daily

Southern Community Newspapers, Inc., parent company of the Clayton News Daily and Henry Daily Herald, has announced a series of initiatives designed to increase operating efficiency and enhance its reliance on the Internet as a means to disseminate news on a 24-hour basis.

“As a company, SCNI has made great strides to better serve our newspapers’ readers by integrating delivery of news in both print and online,” said Mike Gebhart, executive vice president. “These initiatives enhance our ongoing print-digital convergence while making us a more efficient company.”

SCNI will consolidate printing of its six metro Atlanta newspapers at its production facility in Lawrenceville, home of the Gwinnett Daily Post. The Gwinnett plant currently prints the Daily Post, the Rockdale Citizen and the Newton Citizen. Printing of three other SCNI newspapers — the Clayton News Daily, the Henry Daily Herald and the weekly Jackson Progress-Argus will move to the Gwinnett facility in March.

SCNI is also adjusting the publication frequency of the print editions of some publications. The Clayton News Daily and Henry Daily Herald will convert to a three-day print edition, publishing Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The Gwinnett Daily Post will move to a five-day-per-week print schedule, publishing Wednesday through Sunday.

While adjusting days of print publication, the newspapers will add overage with increased efforts on the web and mobile sites.

Other SCNI newspapers will maintain the current schedule of print editions.

All papers will continue publishing online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“It’s a challenging, but exciting time for the newspaper industry,” said Bonnie Pratt, publisher of the Clayton News Daily and Henry Daily Herald. “What newspapers do — in-depth coverage and analysis — translates well to the online medium. And the Internet allows us to deliver news and advertising instantly, rather than on a 24-hour print news cycle.

“These changes,” she said, “make us more efficient, and strengthen us for the future. The print editions remain strong, but the Internet is full of potential. Moving forward, we must continue to exploit digital means of disseminating the news.”