The paper slowly withered over decades, suffering from the same decrease in paid circulation as newspapers across the country as readers opted for free information online. Then in 2022, Gannett announced a round of 400 layoffs at its newspapers across the nation, with the last Daily Tribune news reporter among the victims.
By the time the last news reporter closed her laptop, the paper was down to a circulation of about 1,400.
Sherrie Wright, who operates Bittersweet gift shop across Main from the former home of the Daily Tribune, described the online navigating she now goes through to try to keep abreast of community news.
The city posts information on their official website, Wright said, as does the Cheboygan Area Chamber of Commerce. She can’t remember the last time she picked up a Daily Tribune, she said. It’s one less thing that residents share.
“It’s a cohesiveness, whether it’s good or bad, a common denominator that’s just not there anymore,” Wright said.
The Daily Tribune still has sports stories and occasional news stories about the community written by reporters based in Gaylord or Petoskey, two publications owned by the same media company that owns the Daily Tribune, Gannett.
The paper’s website includes one contact for news, Kortny Hahn. But the email listed for Hahn no longer works and the social media account linked on the website hasn’t been updated since 2016.
In reality, Hahn was laid off in August 2022. She now works in the optical department of a Walmart in Petoskey.
Hahn worked at the paper for almost 10 years before being laid off. “I was told corporate had a bad quarter and my position was dissolved,” she told Bridge. “I’ve told them to take (my name and contact) off (the website) but it’s still there.”
Sarah Leach supervised the Cheboygan newspaper and 14 others in Michigan until earlier this month, when she was fired by Gannett after speaking out about the impact of staff shortages.
She calls Cheboygan a “ghost newsroom,” that exists online but no longer has any news reporters. A second Gannett newspaper in the state, the Sturgis Journal, also has no news reporters, Leach told Bridge.
“We don’t really talk about it in media companies,” Leach said. “It’s an embarrassment for a lot of companies, because they don’t really have a clear answer as to how to solve that problem.”
A spokesperson for Gannett responded to a request for comment for this story with the following statement: “The Cheboygan Daily Tribune has deep roots in the Cheboygan County community and we remain committed to providing resources to our newsroom and continuing to leverage our USA TODAY Network for continued coverage.”
