In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was the morning news anchor for radio station WCSI in Columbus, Indiana.  The radio station had a long history of service to the local public and was owned by a family enterprise that also owned the newspaper in Findlay, Ohio.

I also covered the local schools and county government during my four-year stint in Columbus.  It was a very competitive market with the other radio station in town, which had a very good journalist as its news director.

But both radio stations were constantly competing with a journalistic juggernaut, The Columbus Republic.  Owned by the local Brown family, The Republic had a staff of hard working and savvy journalists that were often very aggressive in their news-gathering operation.  In the rare event when I scooped The Republic, the reporter on that beat was called on the carpet.

I had the chance to befriend many reporters at The Republic and admired their work.  When you make your living as a reporter and have competition, it keeps you on your toes and motivates you to work even harder.

I have been saddened by what has happened at The Republic in recent years.  New ownership has a different view on news coverage, and the realities of newspaper economics these days haven’t helped either.  I know some good journalists that have left The Republic in recent years because it is not anywhere near the operation it once was.

So it was not good news when the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) recently posted a story on a major cutback in the print editions of The Republic.  Starting in September, The Republic will publish a print edition only two days a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The IBJ quotes the publisher as saying this should have been done 10-15 years ago, with more people using online sources of news as opposed to print.  The company, AIM Indiana, is also cutting back print editions for its Seymour and Greenfield operations.  The Franklin Daily Journal will have the most print editions, because that newspaper is in the best financial shape of all the company’s locations, according to the publisher.

It is sad to see a once mighty and respected operation like The Republic relegated to two-days-a-week in print.  But it is a growing trend.