The Chicago Defender, a legacy African-American newspaper that "had a national role in the civil rights movement," will end its print publication and switch to a digital-only format next Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The big picture, via Axios' Marisa Fernandez: Many local papers have already folded after failing to transition print customers into paying digital subscribers. By 2021, half of surviving U.S. newspapers will be gone, Harvard's Nicco Mele told the WSJ in May. But, 2018 Pew Research shows that digital newspaper ads are on the rise.
Details: Hiram Jackson, the CEO of Defender's parent company, told the Tribune that the Defender "plans to erect a digital paywall to get online subscriptions to monetize the website."
