La Presse to go digital only

Montreal newspaper La Presse will be moving to a digital-only format within the next three to five years, as reported by J-Source‘s French sister site, ProjetJ.
As an incentive to get readers to sign up for a three-year online
subscription, La Presse editor and publisher Guy Crevier is offering
those subscribers a free iPad.

La Presse is the first large daily in the world to report a complete transition from paper to digital. More than seven million dollars has already been invested in what’s been dubbed the “iPad plan” by staff, and another 25 million is slated to fully implement it.

A report in Le Devoir suggests the newspaper’s production and distribution departments stand to be hardest hit by the decision. “It’s clear we’ll be the most affected,” said Gilles Duguay, president of La Presse‘s distribution services, who is currently on vacation and will be returning for a planning meeting at the end of March. “I remain convinced that the paper will continue to exist, but it will shrink. We might cut back to 75,000 copies. But we have to wait to understand the impact of the project.”