A source within the Orange Country Register has confirmed that the Irvine World News, a weekly owned by Freedom Communications, will soon relaunch the Irvine World News as a five day daily that will likely mirror the recent launch of the “Current” in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa and not so much the launch of the new Santa Ana Register. No date was given but our source said it will be “soon.”
Irvine’s population of more than 220,000 and vast economic resources is an ideal place for a daily newspaper. The biggest question is will the paper reflect the Libertarian leanings of the parent OC Register in its coverage or will the editorial and opinion pages have a purple hue to reflect Irvine’s almost evenly split conservative/liberal leanings.
There are a host of cities and towns all over the nation with populations considerably smaller than Irvine’s who have a daily paper.
There is certainly a considerable amount of news to chase in the city with five high schools contributing to sports coverage, lots of business news from major companies to mom&pop shops, plus Irvine’s rich cultural diversity deserve attention that the largest metro papers just don’t provide. We wonder how much the Irvine World News will cannibalize from the Register and vice-versa.
We’re chasing a tip that this isn’t the only expansion that Freedom Communications is planning.