Tribune printing press moving to Fresno

April 1, 2015

Central Valley residents can soon get copies of the San Luis Obispo Tribune hot off the press. The Tribune announced Tuesday that, starting in early June, its newspaper will be printed in Fresno.

The Tribune’s parent corporation, McClatchy Company, is making the Fresno Bee a regional printing site. The Fresno Bee presses will also print The Cambrian, a weekly that serves San Luis Obispo County’s North Coast.

Tom Cullinan, the president and publisher of the Fresno Bee, said the change will allow The Tribune to be printed on environmentally friendly presses that use water-based ink.

Cullinan is currently The Tribune’s publisher, as well. The Tribune’s previous president and publisher, Bruce Ray, resigned on Feb. 27, shortly after McClatchy announced an initiative dubbed “corporate reorganization.”

Over the past decade, McClatchy’s stock price has plummeted. In 2005, a share of McClatchy stock sold for $74.80. It is now selling for $1.87.

In July 2009, the stock fell to a low of 44 cents. It rose to a recent high of $6.81 in April 2014, after McClatchy installed firewalls to make readers pay for online access.

But, the stock price has been in decline for the past year. Likewise, The Tribune’s online readership has decreased since McClatchy installed the firewalls.

The Tribune cites Cullinan as saying that 15-full time employees and 13 part-time employees will lose work as a result of the change in printing press location.