USA Today will not renew printing contract in Batavia

USA Today officials have notified Batavia Newspapers Corporation that they will not renew their printing contract when it expires on June 30, 2010, and will move their regional printing to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle’s facilities.

“USA Today management told us that the decision not to renew their contract with us was strictly due to economic reasons,” Batavia Newspapers Corporation publisher Tom Turnbull said.

Both USA Today and the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle are owned by the Gannett Corporation. “They feel they can achieve significant savings by keeping the business in house,” Turnbull said.

“The quality of the product and our workmanship was not an issue,” said Turnbull. “They acknowledged that we have done an outstanding job printing USA Today for this region over the past 24 years.”

Batavia Newspapers Corporation has been recognized as the top USA Today print site for overall quality five times, including 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 2007. In 2008, Batavia finished second out of 33 print sites. Batavia’s USA Today print region includes Western and Central New York, Southern Ontario and Northwest Pennsylvania.

Batavia Newspapers Corporation is a division of Johnson Newspaper Corporation and publishes The Daily News, The Drummer Pennysaver, the Livingston County News and TheDailyNewsOnline.com.