Tough Market Forces Another Local Paper to End Publication : Media: The 95-year-old Press-Courier becomes the third newspaper in the county to fold in the past 18 months.

The 95-year-old Oxnard Press-Courier will cease publication on Thursday, the third newspaper to fold in the past 1 1/2 years under the pressure of Ventura County’s competitive newspaper market.

Citing the state’s troubled economy and the county’s tough media market, newspaper officials announced Monday that the Press-Courier could no longer afford to stay in business.

“It is with deep regret that we take this action,” said Kirk A. Davis, publisher of the Press-Courier. “Over the past 95 years, we have developed and felt a special relationship with the residents of this community.”

“We have covered them through good times and bad, but we unfortunately cannot keep the paper running in today’s California economy.”

Toronto-based Thomson Newspapers, which owns the Press-Courier, also announced Monday that it would cease publication of the Ventura Sun and the Camarillo Sun. The weekly Ventura paper was launched in late 1992 while the twice-weekly Camarillo paper started publishing early last year. Both were circulated free to readers.

The closures represent the latest in a series of changes on the local newspaper scene that have led Editor & Publisher magazine to call Ventura County the site of one of the hottest newspaper wars in the nation.

The competition heated up in 1990, when the E.W. Scripps chain, headquartered in Ohio, announced it would move its afternoon Ventura Star-Free Press to morning delivery. At the same time The Times launched its daily Ventura County Edition, after previously operating a weekly Ventura County section.

The Times expanded its coverage of the county in May, 1993, by starting east county and west county editions. By that point, Scripps had launched its own expansion strategy. The newspaper chain, operating as Ventura County Newspapers, bought full ownership of the Simi Valley Enterprise, the Camarillo Daily News and the weekly Moorpark News-Mirror in 1992. It already owned the Thousand Oaks News Chronicle.

In addition to acquiring existing papers, Scripps also began publishing a zoned edition of its Ventura paper for Oxnard, which it calls the Oxnard Star-Free Press. After folding the Camarillo Daily News in 1993, the company replaced it with another zoned edition of the Star-Free Press, which it calls the Camarillo Star-Free Press.

Another victim of the newspaper competition in the county was the Santa Paula Chronicle, which closed in December, 1992. The Santa Paula paper was owned by another branch of the Scripps family.

The Los Angeles Daily News continues to operate in the county, with special zoned sections for Simi Valley, the Conejo Valley and the west county. The owner of the paper, however, announced last month that it is for sale.

With the closure of the Press-Courier, the only daily newspapers actively covering Oxnard are the West County Edition of The Times and the zoned edition of the Star-Free Press.

And newspaper managers say they see the battle for readers in Oxnard, and throughout the county, growing more fierce.

“Ventura County is an incredibly competitive newspaper market and it’s also a difficult economy,” said Jeffrey S. Klein, president of The Times Ventura County Edition. “The Times is committed to Ventura County . . . and we think there will be many Press-Courier readers who will try us out.”

Added John Irby, editor of the Star-Free Press: “I think it (the Press-Courier’s closure) is indicative of the fact that newspapers are businesses, we survive on revenue, and in this competitive market it looks like there wasn’t enough to go around.”

The Press-Courier had been trying to reverse a downward spiral that saw daily circulation drop from a peak of 23,087 to its current level of 16,208. At one point, in March, 1993, the paper’s circulation had fallen to 15,538.

In 1992, it began printing the newspaper on new presses. In March of last year, the Press-Courier switched from evening to morning delivery to boost circulation. At the same time, it redesigned its cover and launched a number of new features and sections, including an entertainment tab called Weekend--which was expanded and renamed Stir.

The latest Audit Bureau of Circulation numbers this spring showed the Press-Courier with a slight circulation gain after four years of steady losses.

In March, 1990, its daily circulation stood at 19,631; this March it reported a daily circulation of 16,208, a gain of nearly 700 papers over the previous year. That increase, however, was not without expensive discounting and promotion.

The Thomson chain had quietly tried to sell the Press-Courier since the start of the year. But with weak circulation and dwindling advertising revenues, the newspaper group found no takers.

Finally, Davis said there was little choice but to fold.

“Over the past two years, we pursued every avenue available to us to try to salvage the newspaper,” he said. “In the final analysis, the declining economy and increased competition was just overwhelming.”

The Press-Courier, and the Ventura Sun and Camarillo Sun, had a total of 172 full- and part-time employees, with the bulk of those working for the Press-Courier. On Monday, employees expressed shock and sadness at the closure of a publication that billed itself as “Oxnard’s hometown newspaper.”

“I’ve heard rumors almost as long as I’ve been working there, but in the last couple of months they’ve been heating up,” said Jim Schultz, who has covered Oxnard City Hall for the Press-Courier since arriving at the newspaper 11 years ago. “But I had no idea it was happening (Monday).”

Said one employee who refused to identify herself as she left the paper’s downtown Oxnard office in tears: “I don’t want to talk to you unless you have a job for me.”

Davis said plans are to sell the Press-Courier’s facility in downtown Oxnard. City officials lamented the closure of the plant, not only because it puts nearly 200 people out of work but because it produces a gaping hole in the city’s efforts to revitalize the city’s downtown district.

“I’m really saddened by the news,” said Steve Kinney, president of Oxnard’s Economic Development Corp. “They have been very aggressive in putting the Press-Courier behind some of the major development campaigns in the city. I feel like I’m losing an ally in that respect.”

Karen Magnuson, editor of the paper, called her staffers “real troopers.” She said that “most people know we didn’t give up without one heck of a fight.”

The newspaper began as the weekly Courier, and during its first 13 years had eight different owners. It became an afternoon daily in 1909, and in 1940 was renamed the Oxnard Press-Courier.

Davis and others at the newspaper noted that the Press-Courier already is planning its final edition.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” he said. “We are going to put out one hell of an edition on Thursday.”