With General Motors already announcing plans to scale back production by 30% in the wake of a failed government bailout bid, management at Detroit’s two newspapers are mulling potentially drastic changes to their business. Crain’s Detroit Business and The Associated Press both report that more job cuts are likely, but that management of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News are considering paring back publishing schedules and moving most of their operations online.  The speculation is that one, and possibly both newspapers may shift to a twice-weekly print edition and online publication the rest of the week.  If that’s the case, then it would be the first time that a major metro daily has taken this step.

Official spokesmen are taking pains to say that no decisions have been made, but a memo from Free Press Publisher David Hunky obtained by Crain’s, states that “we plan to share details early next week.”  Managers are quoted as saying that the overriding objective is to maintain a two-newspaper presence in the Motor City.  The Free Press and the News operate under a joint agreement in which the papers maintain separate newsrooms but a single business side.

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