Jackson Sun, Commercial Appeal printing operations to move to Mississippi

January 31 will mark the last time The Jackson Sun newspaper is printed at its home press in the publication's more than 150-year tenure in Jackson, Tennessee.

The Jackson Sun and its sister paper, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, will shift printing and packaging operations to the Clarion-Ledger facility in Jackson, Mississippi starting Feb. 1.

News and advertising teams at The Jackson Sun and Memphis Commercial Appeal will remain in Jackson, Tennessee and Memphis, respectively. Daily delivery times for print readers of both newspapers will remain the same.

The move is the latest step in parent company Gannett, Co.'s ongoing effort to consolidate production operations across its sweeping collection of Unites States newspapers. It will impact about 23 employees at the Jackson, Tennessee plant, who will continue work as usual through Jan. 31. 

After Feb. 1, all printing and packaging operations at The Jackson Sun's West Lafayette Street building will cease, and a small group of employees will remain to decommission the press, move equipment and clean the production area. The company has not yet determined what will happen to the press.

The Jackson, Mississippi plant will print seven daily newspapers (not all of which are owned by Gannett, Co.) once it assumes printing operations for The Jackson Sun and the Commercial Appeal.

The Jackson Sun moved into the West Lafayette facility in 1957. The press became a printing hub for several publications — some owned by Gannett, Co. and some not — in Tennessee and surrounding areas.

The Commercial Appeal retired its decades-old presses in April 2017, adding its print production to the Jackson, Tennessee press' roster. Two years after the Commercial Appeal's presses went quiet, the newspaper moved from its longtime 495 Union Avenue home to its current downtown Memphis location on South Main Street.

The Tennessean, the state's flagship newspaper, shifted its printing operations to the Gannett, Co.-owned Knoxville News Sentinel in 2019 as it prepared to leave its historic 1100 Broadway location. The Tennessean is now located on Nashville's West End Avenue.

Cassandra Stephenson covers business at The Tennessean, part of the USA Today Network — Tennessee. Reach Cassandra at ckstephenson@tennessean.com or at (731) 694-7261. Follow Cassandra on Twitter at @CStephenson731.