According to Jamie Hutchinson, a writer for The Paper, news editor Edward Burch sent an e-mail to the publication's staff informing them that the April 22 edition would be the last. He cited poor ad revenue and difficultly getting advertisers to support serious content as reasons for the shut down.

Hutchinson said that The Paper will continue in some fashion, most likely as ad sheet. He also said that Burch and arts editor Jenny Southlynn are considering starting a non-profit paper to fill the void.

Another source inside The Paper says that they were having difficulty competing for ad revenue with The Buzz, the other local weekly paper, owned by the Illini Media Company, publisher of the Daily Illini.

According to this source, The Buzz has been offering ad rates significantly lower than the Paper can afford. The source conjectures that the Illini Media Company, which is a non-profit corporation, does not expect The Buzz to break even, and therefore is able to offer below-market ad prices.

In many ways The Paper formed out of the ashes of The C-U Cityview, which was Champaign-Urbana's only alternative weekly from 1995, when it was known as the Optimist, until it was closed permanently in January, 2003. The Cityview went through two ownership changes during its lifespan, first acquired from local ownership by Indiana-based Yesse Communication, when it was known as the Octopus, then bought by Michigan-based radio conglomerate Saga Communications, owner of local stations WIXY-FM, WLRW-FM and WKIO-FM. It was Saga that finally closed the doors on the Cityview.

For more on local media ownership in Champaign-Urbana, see the following U-C IMC articles:

• Media Monopoly in Champaign-Urbana?
• Former Octopus Owner Having Trouble in Dayton, OH
• The Oncoming DE-Localization Of Our Local "NewsChannel"

  (The Paper also gives some coverage on this issue in the current issue.)

• Concentrated Media Sausage: Making Sense Out Of The FCC's Changes To Media Ownership Rules, The Congressional Attempts To Reverse Them, And What This Means In Our Local Media Environment
• WIXY And WLRW's Saga Communications Fires Local Workers
• Memories Of The Octopus And How To Fill The Void