Newspaper Will Abandon Paper

Q. What do you call a newspaper that doesn’t print on dead-tree products? A. www.ucjournal.com/.

Nine months after printing its first paper edition, The Orem Daily Journal in Utah has announced it will stop distributing a print edition and will publish exclusively online.

The newspaper has printed its final print edition and will resume publication online Aug. 5, publisher Levor Oldham told the Associated Press. Oldham said some employees — particularly those involved in distribution — are being laid off.

Previously, only the newspaper’s classified advertisements have been available on the Internet, he said. The Journal may be the first daily paper in the nation to move its publication exclusively online, said Larry Pryor, executive editor of Online Journalism Review and a journalism professor at the University of Southern California.

“Weekly publications have moved online, but I am unaware of any dailies,” he said. Oldham said common sense drove the move. “Clearly, the future of newspapers is on the Web.”

The Orem Daily Journal is one of three Utah County newspapers published by Springville-based Journal Publications, which also designs and markets software for newspapers. It began publishing 7,500 copies in late October, positioning itself as a competitor to The Daily Herald in Provo, which has a circulation of about 33,000.