Kentucky Kernel to increase online emphasis, cut newspaper's print edition to two days a week

The Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky's independent campus newspaper, announced Monday that it will cut production of the print newspaper from five days a week to two in an effort to put more emphasis on its online products.

The decision was made over the summer by the Kernel's board of directors.

While the Kernel still has strong readership of its print product, faculty adviser Chris Poore said more and more students are getting their news online.

"This is as much an effort to go where our readership was going as anything," he said. "We have two audiences, and we're trying to pay attention to both."

He said the move also allows student journalists to focus more on storytelling and less on the time-consuming process putting out a daily print product.

Kernel Editor-in-Chief Will Wright, a former Herald-Leader intern, said in a column announcing the change that "through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, and through video and graphics, the Kernel will become one of the best daily online newspapers in the country.

"And the printed paper will be better than ever."

The free, student-run publication had offered a printed paper five days a week since 1966.

It will now be printed on Mondays and Thursdays and will be online every day.

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Kentucky Kernel to increase online emphasis, cut newspaper's print edition to two days a week."