Small Texas daily newspaper, twice judged best in class, goes online only, except for Sunday

The Daily Tribune in Marble Falls, Tex., is converting to online-only on weekdays, "citing shrinking ad revenue and high newsprint costs," reports Editor and Publisher. It will only print its River Cities Sunday Tribune. Publisher Amber Alvey Weems said in an unbylined story in the Sunday paper, "Nothing is being shut down, only transformed." The Daily Tribune was twice named Texas' best small daily by the Texas Press Association, the paper noted. It started as a weekly in 1995 became a Tuesday-through-Friday daily in 2005 and started the Sunday paper in 2006.

The Editor & Publisher International Year Book lists a circulation of 3,381 for both the daily and Sunday papers, and a sister weekly, the Marble Falls Picayune, with a circulation of 36,000. Weems said much advertising had shifted to the weekly and Sunday papers. The papers, owned by Victory Publishing, compete with The Highlander, a nationally recognized twice-weekly that is based in Marble Falls and serves Burnet and Llano counties and has sister papers for each county. Marble Falls is in southern Burnet County, in the Hill Country about 50 miles northwest of Austin. Mondo Times says the Highlander has a circulation of 5,021; the E&P Year Book says it has 3,464. (MapQuest image)