Isle of Man Newspapers has announced that it is to change the day of publication for the island's oldest newspaper.
From next week, February 4th, the Isle of Man Examiner will be in the shops from Tuesday mornings rather than Monday mornings.
The company made the decision to change after it evaluated its news and sports coverage and undertook market research.
Currently, to be in the shops first thing on Monday morning means the deadline is on a Sunday night.
Editor Richard Butt said: 'The problem with a Sunday deadline is that many of sources of news or comments on news – be they companies, charities, police officers, civil servants or politicians – are simply much harder to get hold of on a Sunday, so occasionally the news we’ve been able to report in the Examiner has been less complete than we’d like.
'Many services and organisations have bent over backwards to help us and we would like to thank them for that and acknowledge their help now.
'Nevertheless, we calculated that we’d produce a much more comprehensive news service on a Tuesday than a Monday.
'For sports coverage, we are like all community papers. We rely on the goodwill of enthusiasts to help us provide reports and results. They have done a fantastic job in meeting Sunday deadlines. But having an extra day will make it a little easier.
'In the summer especially, some sports are still taking place as the Examiner’s Sunday deadline approaches and it’s impossible to get the reports into the paper.'
The Examiner, which was first published in 1880, was a Friday paper until the 1980s.
Mr Butt said he was confident that readers would like our changes and be happy to go into the shops on a Tuesday rather than a Monday.
'We appreciate that the Examiner has been part of thousands of readers’ lives every Monday for a long time so we have not taken the decision lightly and would not make the change unless we believed we could improve the paper,' he said.
'Our readers have told our market researchers that they’d prefer a better, fresher paper on a Tuesday.'
Among the changes readers will notice from next week is that business coverage is going to be expanded, giving more coverage to the eight hours (or more) that dominate many people’s lives – the working day.
Business News has never been just about Athol Street. It’s about how everyone in the island makes a living and, to some extent, how they choose to spend their money.
Among the other changes planned, sports coverage is to move to an eight-page centre section, giving readers better and more up to date coverage of all the weekend’s action.
'We have taken this opportunity to refresh the Examiner and believe that the paper will be an even better package of news, views, features and sports coverage from next week,' said Mr Butt.
Photo - The front page of today's Isle of Man Examiner.
