In Vermont, a Venerable Paper Fights for Readers

The 85-year-old Burlington Free Press, the state’s largest daily, went through some radical changes in June. Management shrunk the newspaper from a broadsheet to a tabloid (a format from its distant past) and added color to all of its pages. It raised delivery prices, started charging for online access and rebuilt its 45-year-old presses.

The reaction in Burlington reflects the broader challenges facing Gannett, which owns The Free Press, and other newspaper chains as they try to retool local papers for the digital age. Gannett, which also owns USA Today, 80 other newspapers and 23 television stations, is in the middle of an overhaul of its newspaper properties, redesigning print pages, introducing pay walls for online access and turning print reporters into multimedia journalists. But local readers have not immediately taken to Gannett’s vision. It takes a long time for loyal readers to embrace the big changes their papers are making.