Modesto Bee to change print days, delivery method as digital transition evolves
The Modesto Bee is taking its biggest step yet on its journey toward a more digitally focused, sustainable future.
We will transition to a 24/7 digital product with three days of high-quality print editions beginning July 15.
The print editions will publish Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and be delivered by mail, arriving on the same day as publication, in most cases, alongside your regular mail delivery. The Sunday newspaper will arrive on Saturday because of the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery schedule. Single copies also will continue to be available at select retail locations.
The digital edition will continue to publish seven days a week at modbee.com and in our digital app. And we’ll continue to publish news digitally throughout the day, every day.
This transition will also allow us to invest in making our digital experiences better, including a big update to the digital edition that I’m excited to share with you soon, a new tool for commenting on stories, a new events calendar and other improvements on modbee.com.
This is another key move for us within the digital transition of the news industry — and a vital step toward the sustainability of The Bee.
And we plan to be here for decades to come.
Some of you who have received the print edition for decades will be disappointed by these changes. We understand. The hard truth is the world has changed underneath us. Increasingly, Stanislaus County residents get their news from their phones, tablets and computers.
With that trend in mind, we’ve become much more digitally focused and have intensified that approach to where readers of modbee.com or our digital edition often see our best work before our print readers.
For The Bee to continue to provide you with essential coverage of our community and unsparing investigative reporting, we must transform our business to thrive in 2024 and beyond.
Our staff’s commitment to the Modesto-area community isn’t changing. We will continue to deliver in-depth reporting, investigative work and captivating stories.
In the past year:
We undertook a months-long look at the increasing danger of fentanyl in San Joaquin County, and we continue to prioritize in-depth reporting about the issues that most deeply impact our communities.
We began to publish county restaurant health inspections. After our repeated efforts to get the county to update the inspection data and to make their website more user-friendly, we are now getting the information needed to publish these reports every week.
We’ve done extensive reporting on the shifting state of Stanislaus County health care providers, including how one surgical center is being removed from the Medicare program and how that impacts patients in our region. We also reported on two new residency programs that will bring 40 new medical residents each year to the Modesto area.
And earlier this year, Maria Figueroa, who grew up in the Modesto area and was formerly The Bee’s research assistant, was named our new general assignment reporter.
If you’re already a subscriber, thank you for supporting the work we do and investing in local journalism, and be sure to activate your digital access at modbee.com/activate.
If you aren’t a subscriber, please consider lending your support for the kind of strong, independent reporting that is critical to our democracy and the health of our community. The future depends on it.
In the coming days, subscribers will receive correspondence from our customer service team regarding next steps. That team can be reached at 800-776-4233.
Carlos Virgen, senior editor of The Modesto Bee, has been a journalist for more than 20 years. Contact him at cvirgen@modbee.com .
