For decades the Daily News has been Southcentral Alaska's No. 1 source of news, commentary and shopping information. We expect that to be the case for many years to come. In fact, we reach more Alaskans today than ever in our history. What has changed is how we serve you.
Years ago, we gave you just the printed newspaper. The digital age has changed that. While on average about 118,100 residents of Southcentral still start their day with our printed news, more and more of you access our content in one digital form or another. More than 1.4 million unique visitors access our web and mobile platforms each month to read more than 13.9 million pages of content.
Now, through advances in technology and the restructuring and retraining of our newsroom, we can bring you news and information 24/7 on your phone, tablet and laptop or desktop computer -- and once a day in your printed newspaper and digital replicas.
Our digital platforms offer news videos, photo galleries, blogs, the opportunity to engage in real-time discussions about topics in the news and much more.
Regardless of how you read us, the core mission of Daily News journalists is to give our readers the fairest, most accurate and most professional news report possible. We attend the meetings you can't and investigate the issues that affect your lives.
We believe that by offering you the best information available, you will be better equipped to make smart decisions about your neighborhoods and communities. We believe quality, credible community journalism has value, regardless of the way you receive it.
The technological changes in the news delivery also require changes in how we do business. We can no longer expect only advertisers and print subscribers to shoulder the complete burden of supporting news-gathering and distribution over all these platforms and options.
More than 300 newspapers across the country now charge for digital access to their content. Our industry and our customers are realizing that the news and information we produce has real value, regardless of how our readers choose to access it.
Having all our readers share that cost is an essential and important step toward preserving the foundations of a free and independent press for future generations of Alaskans.
To that end, starting Dec. 18, the Daily News will charge for unlimited access to all of our news platforms, including the internet and mobile applications. Occasional readers will still be able to read our homepage and section fronts, such as local news, sports, features and business, at no charge, but a subscription will be required to read more than 15 pieces of content in any 30-day period.
If you're a current print newspaper subscriber, we're offering you the opportunity to add full access to our mobile, internet and digital newspaper for 60 cents a week or less, depending on your renewal term.
If you aren't a current print subscriber, you'll have the option of buying a digital-only package that includes mobile, web and the electronic replica of the print newspaper for $7.97 a month or $79.95 a year. That's just 22 cents a day.
New digital-only customers can start subscriptions for as little as 99 cents.
Keep in mind that our website, adn.com, is not simply the print newspaper online, nor is our print newspaper merely our website in print. The content is different and published on different schedules. Readers use the two platforms differently. We think if you want to stay closely connected to our community, you'll want access to both, along with mobile and our soon-to-launch tablet app.
Thank you for allowing the Daily News to be a part of your life. We look forward to providing you the news of Alaska when you want it and in all the ways you want it.
-- Pat Doyle
President and Publisher
Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage