Globe changes name after switch to weekly publication

WHAT IS HAPPENING: The Ironwood Daily Globe, an Ironwood-based newspaper, is changing from a daily to a weekly, according to an article in its Saturday, September 3 edition. Since it will no longer be a daily newspaper, the publication will be called The Globe.

WHAT IT IS: The last of the Upper Peninsula’s independent daily newspapers, Ironwood’s Daily Globe will now be a weekly publication. It is a multi-state publication given the social overlaps with the Hurley, Wisc. area, which is similar to the number of publications that work on the Michigan-Wisconsin border. According to Globe Publisher Sue Mizell, sudden staffing issues in the newsroom forced the move. The decision to stop daily publication was enough for the Globe to also close its printing plant, which employed nine workers.

The first weekly edition will be published on Thursday, September 8, 2022.

WHAT THEY SAY : “While this is a big change, we look forward to continuing to serve the community as a wonderful source of information and publicity,” Mizell said. “We thank the community for their support over the years. We look forward to continuing to be part of the community – delivering strong, hyper-local reporting each week, as well as a high-quality advertising outlet for the business community.

NO PRINTING LOCALLY: The decision to end all local printing is creating additional headaches in the western Upper Peninsula. The Globe will now be printed in Brainard, Minnesota and shipped via the United States Postal Service. Other publications like the Wakefield News-Bessemer Pick and Ax and the Iron County Miner also leave the area for printing.

This puts more pressure on the last active newspaper printing plant in the Upper Peninsula. It is located in Powers and prints the Ogden newspapers of the Marquette Mining Journal, Escanaba Daily Press, Houghton Mining Gazette and Iron Mountain Daily News as well as a handful of area weeklies. Other newspapers are printed and shipped from Wisconsin and Detroit.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT: Like other businesses in the region, finding staff is essential for local media. The Munising News, which closed in 2021, also cited staffing issues for closing while the Escanaba Daily Press has one of the smallest daily newsrooms in the state.

“On Monday, the Daily Globe was a profitable and financially sound newspaper, with an equally profitable printing plant. We had no plans or reason to reduce publishing days or close our print shop. On Tuesday everything changed,” Mizell said.