Following up on earlier reports of reduced book coverage at the San Diego Union-Tribune, Edward Champion gets confirmation from U-T book editor Arthur Salm that the weekend coverage will consist of two pages in the arts section, although Salm says some weekday coverage will remain, and the paper will also launch online coverage of books next month.
Although National Book Critics Circle prez John Freeman offers mild endorsement to Sandy Dijkstra‘s call to bombard the Union-Tribune with protest emails, he also lays out some more sensible suggestions on how to turn back the tide. The most notable action item: Coordinate a response with San Diego booksellers and publishers—this matters because you can talk cultural significance with newspaper editors until you’re blue in the face, but if you’re not prepared to raise the issue of economic impact, the discussion probably won’t get very far. Especially when newspapers can lay claim, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has, to continuing their commitment to cultural coverage under different organizing principles.