BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – The Bakersfield Californian will, after Oct. 1, no longer be the daily Bakersfield Californian. It’s switching to five days a week, like so many newspapers around the country.
The Californian, which has published for more than a century and a half, will eliminate its Sunday and Monday editions and go to same-day delivery via the U.S. Mail. Many regular features of the Sunday paper will move to a single weekend edition starting the first Saturday in October.
Essentially it will return to the days of the afternoon paper, which was once the national norm.
This move actually makes The Californian one of the last holdouts of its size to scale back on publishing days.
In 2022 alone, Gannett, the largest chain in the country, eliminated one day of print per week at 186 of its newspapers.
In July, the Fresno Bee moved to three editions a week.
How will The Californian’s transition affect news consumers in Bakersfield? Will people feel deprived?
“Not really,” said Sylvia Sanchez. “I get the news from social media.…TikTok, Facebook, Instagram.”