HOBBS, N.M. (AP) - The Hobbs News-Sun is ending its Saturday edition and shrinking the size of the paper amid falling oil prices and the downtown caused by COVID-19.
Hobbs News-Sun Publisher Daniel Russell announced Saturday that the moves were in response to economic pressures the newspaper faces in the heart of New Mexico’s oil and gas country.
Russell says the newspaper will continue to print editions Tuesday through Friday and Sunday. He also says the width of the paper will go from 25 inches across to 23 inches across to save money.
“This month hit and we are up against that perfect storm of low oil prices and coronavirus,” Russell wrote in a piece that ran in the newspaper’s last Saturday edition.
The Santa Fe New Mexican announced last week nearly a dozen layoffs, salary reductions and a shortened workweek thanks to the economic downturn caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The Gallup Independent also said it would move its entire newspaper staff to part-time but still print regularly.
The Lake Charles, La.-based Shearman Corp. owns the Hobbs News-Sun. The newspaper was named the New Mexico Associated Press Member of the Year in 2016.
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