SITE LAST UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 22, 2005, 7:15 P.M. CDT

Post-Herald's final edition on Friday 

The Birmingham Post-Herald will publish its final edition on Friday, Sept. 23, The E.W. Scripps Co., owner of the newspaper, announced today. 

Paid circulation of the Post-Herald has declined to about 7,500 copies — a level at which it no longer makes economic sense to continue publishing, Scripps officials said. 

"It's never an easy decision to extinguish the light of an independent editorial voice, especially one as bright and rich with tradition as the Post-Herald," said Ken Lowe, president and chief executive officer of The E.W. Scripps Co. "Sadly, though, newspaper readers in Birmingham have made it clear that they are no longer interested in supporting an afternoon newspaper." 

Scripps attributed its decision to close the Post-Herald to the fact that the economics of publishing the Post-Herald were no longer favorable. The closing of the Post-Herald, a five-day afternoon newspaper, marks the end of a joint operating agreement between Scripps and Advance Publications Inc., owner of The Birmingham News, which manages the printing, marketing and distribution of both Birmingham daily newspapers. 

The joint operating agreement between Scripps and Advance Publications was scheduled to run until 2015. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

"The Post-Herald has a long tradition of journalistic excellence and community service, but Scripps was left with no choice but to face economic realities," said Richard A. Boehne, Scripps' executive vice president and head of the company's newspaper division. 

Scripps has developed a severance plan for the Post-Herald's 43 editorial department employees and will attempt to place some at other Scripps newspapers. Scripps operates 20 other daily newspapers in 18 markets across the country. 

The Post-Herald traces its roots as a Scripps newspaper back to 1921 when the company established the Birmingham Post. In 1950, the Post merged with The Birmingham Age-Herald to become The Birmingham Post-Herald. As part of the transaction, the Post-Herald and The Birmingham News created the joint operating agreement and merged the business and production operations of the two newspapers, but maintained separate editorial products. 

"For all of us at The E.W. Scripps Company, and for me personally, today is a sad day," Lowe said. "Our hope had always been for a different outcome."