The day of the Chicago Daily Defender is numbered. According to Stella Foster of the Chicago Sun-Times the daily will become a weekly effective February 13. It will be competing against several other periodicals for readers in its new frequency, including N'Digo and five of the Chicago Citizen Newspaper Group newspapers distributing on the South Side and the South Suburbs.

Gregory Tejeda's blog has about as good a perspective on the past of the Defender as any I've seen. Unstated are the reasons for the decline of the Defender.

It is hard to know where the Defender started to go wrong, perhaps it was the decision to back the white establishment, years ago, in the administration of Harold Washington. Or maybe it just lost its relevancy to a new generation of blacks who did not grow up during the civil rights era.

The paper has declined to a daily circulation of about 20,000 paid. Although even that number can be questioned as the paper does not use the Audit Bureau of Circulations to verify its sales. When I read it on a regular basis, I noted it was often filled with grammar errors. News was often carried on the back of one writer although it had a better focus on city schools and prep sports than its nearest competitor, the Sun-Times.

It never established itself north of Division Street for some reason. And, except in the South Suburbs, struggled to establish an advertising and circulation base in the suburbs.

Lou Ransom, the executive editor of the Defender, told Crain's Chicago Business the Real Times Co. newspaper took a year to make the decision. Ransom said the price will increase to $0.50 a copy from the current $0.35 for a larger 48 page weekly.