If You Think the News Journal Is Bad Now, Just Wait
Here’s a bit of national business-page news you won’t see in your local upstate daily paper: Gannett, which owns the News Journal, has become the target of a hostile takeover bid by Alden Global Capital, a notorious hedge fund that operates a journalistic chop shop. It’s the outfit that bought the Denver Post and laid off one-third of the newsroom employees. And now it’s looking to expand:
Consolidation (and the cost-cutting that comes with it) remains the dominant strategy in the daily newspaper industry. If revenue continues to drop at or even near double-digit levels, the consensus thinking is that radically reducing expenses through consolidation is about as good a card as anyone has to play. Eliminate or reduce corporate staffs, centralize everything that can be centralized, and maybe in some cases continue to make small investments in newer revenue streams.
The analyst on this story believes the end result of the maneuvering he describes might be a merger between Gannett and the Tribune Co., which recently rejected a buyout bid from McClatchy. Whatever ultimately happens will almost certainly prompt even more cuts at the News Journal.
And it’s pretty bad when today’s lead story is a cut-and-paste job on the huge piece written on the 20th anniversary of Tom Capano’s arresst, repackaged to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his conviction.
Print media has more than enough problems without adding a predatory hedge fund to the mix. I admit I have not read the paper in a decade, same for the State News in Dover.
The existing ownership approaches the business as a predatory hedge fund would. The idea of investing in the product and improving sales through quality never occurs to them.
So depressing. Pretty sad when we can’t get a decent local paper in a city the size of Wilmington. But then the once great Philadelphia Inquirer has been a sad shadow of its former self for years.
Journalistic quality and integrity are quaint. We’re kind of devolving as technology grows. It’s creepy.
With the exception of a few places like NYC, LA, Chicago, et al, these are common lamentations. Yet, I think such plaints are misplaced. What we are missing is the replacement of the 4th Estate with the 5th. While the diversity of voices of the 5th is welcomed, the 4th shed the brightest light into dark places, if for no other reason than their public reach and the resources necessary to dig. Superficial aggregation has replaced depth and news you can choose has replaced accurate and impartial journalism.
I suppose we the public are also to blame because of the expectation that the “free” stuff is just as good as the stuff you pay for when the reality is you most often get what you what you pay.
While someone like me with a background ground in research and analysis, likes to dig, most people don’t. The newspaper was the institution that the public could reply on for both the depth and analysis presented in once place. Such is life I guess.
I pay for the NYT, not because they are liberal, after all I aren’t one. Rather because they have depth and long reads. I also receive the Cape Gazette which is about as good a small town local paper as exists anywhere. For state wide stuff, I have to rely on here , the blue place, and other sources to fill the gap. I’m not happy about gap filling that way, but since most of these blogs are Wilmington centric, it seems to be adequate (which is not to say good, just adequate).
I’ll have to wait to February. I’ve maxed out my 10 free articles this month learning about Equal rights for women and how wilmington police had a car chase on I95 up to maine
Gannett is reacting to the takeover attempt with its usual response to anything, with more layoffs. No word on who or how many affected, but this Poynter article on the layoffs includes a tweet from Delaware:
“Jaci Smith, who worked at the News Journal Media Group in Delaware, tweeted:
“25 years in the industry and it’s over after a 10-minute chat in a sterile conference room. My heart aches for journalism and all my fellow #gannett colleagues who were laid off today. #journalismmatters’’