'Mumbai Mirror' to become weekly, 'Pune Mirror' to cease publication, says Times Group

The Times Group on Saturday announced that its daily tabloid Mumbai Mirror will be relaunched as a weekly paper and that the Pune-based branch version of the paper, Pune Mirror, will cease publication.Both, however, will continue to have a strong digital presence, the group said, adding that the decision has been taken as the Indian economy is "officially in recession" due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic."Sadly, just as the pandemic, lockdown, and unprecedented economic crisis have laid low many great ideas and initiatives before they could fully take root, they came as a body blow for the still-young brand. Not only has the newspaper industry been among the hardest-hit in terms of revenues, it has been weighed down by an import duty that has added to newsprint costs," the statement said.Saying the lack of a stimulus to sustain the publications of the papers has brought about the decision, the statement added that Mumbai Mirror and Pune Mirror will have a "strong digital presence"."Following months of discussions and deliberations, we have made this extremely difficult and painful decision to recalibrate our portfolio of publications. We truly value the contribution of our journalists and other staff towards building such a strong brand in a relatively short time, and thank them for their hard work and great effort," the statement concluded.The paper was launched 15 years ago and later extended to Bengaluru, Pune, and Ahmedabad.