Hey Mister, Wanna Buy a Paper

Have you stopped to notice that Gannett owns Channel 12 as well as the Republic?  My understanding is that this arrangement can only be maintained for a limited period of time, and Gannett was counting on Congress to relax the ownership rules...a Republican Congress that is.  The odds of that change happening in the near future have decreased dramatically. 

Hmm, looks to me like the Republic may be on the block soon.

Meanwhile, the entire sector continues to weaken.   

Standard & Poor's on Friday cut its ratings on Gannett Co. citing worsening operating results as the newspaper sector weakens.

"Operating results have been adversely affected by the challenging newspaper operating climate in both the U.S. and the UK," S&P said in a statement.

However, "this has been tempered by the television operations' significantly higher political revenues in this election year," S&P said.

Gannett, the publisher of USA Today, in October reported a lower quarterly profit and missed revenue forecasts on Wednesday because of weak advertising, setting the stage for a downbeat earnings season for newspaper publishers.

Comments

[Ray G]

I read the paper that U of Chicago's Jesse Shapiro put out on the paying demographics of newspapers, and was not convinced of much.

My opinion on the matter tended to hinge on their choice of words and phrases to study.

"Death tax" vs. "Estate Tax" for one. At first glance, this would seem to wrongly identify liberals for simply using the proper name of the thing. But if you think about it, and roll it over a bit, you'll see that such practices lead to misleading identifications of both sides. (Leaving aside the obviousness of whomever named the original tax, did so with the intent of evoking an image of wealth via the term "estate.")

More to the point, I think newspapers are in trouble regardless of slant that they may or may not have, but they are not the archaic beasts that many would have us believe.

IMO, a good plan for any major paper would be slightly libertarian stance with very little fireworks. The average person tires of political banter quickly, and simply want some well timed news. (Note that I use a lower case L in libertarian; I refer to classical liberals, not the nut case modern LP or their Reason mag ilk.)

[Nick]

Newspapers I have read.

Anchorage, Fairbanks, Calgary, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angels,
San Diego, and others.

I value the Republic among the bottom
tier for quality of content.

[Conservative Majority]

And the fools keep driving down the value with columns like this:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1225ruelas1225.html

[Ray G]

Another thing to consider in the demise of the newspaper is the internet in the form of bloggers, citizen journalists, et al.

The journalist is a glorified English major, who is essentially supposed to be an objective messenger. This basic pattern has been altered however. The messenger now takes a very active part in forming the message, instead of merely relaying the message.

That's the slant. And with so many other options, people are simply choosing other messengers.

But there's also this; the glorified English major part. What claim to "expert" does the journalist have? None really. They've proven that objectiveness cannot be taught in journalism classes (at least not effectively and consistently). So where does their value lie?

They thought the value lie with them as reporters, as individuals, but they're being proven wrong by the uncaring forces of the market. And there's the next big reason for the public to seek out alternative sources for information.

Think of how many blogs that econ professors, law profs, et al put out, and how accessible they are to the average guy. I regularly have exchanges with some of the brightest law and econ profs in the country, in a simple, low-key and civil manner via blogs/comment sections/email.

So we get right to the source of "expertise" and we get actual feedback and interaction. Try interacting with a journalist, particularly if you're being critical of their work. Talk about haughty!

Econ profs are amiable and accessible, glorified English majors are uppity and aloof.

[BobH]

The Rep might go up for sale, but the question is whether there are buyers. With the Knight-Ridder sell-off still being absorbed by the market, and with the general negative prospects for print media, there are more sellers than buyers. Tribune Company was very disappointed by the bids they got recently for the LA Times.

[Nick]

Kudos for the Republic!

Such excellent coverage of the Somolia
conflict during the last eight days.

[BobH]

Some confirmation of what I wrote above: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune was just sold (one of the ripples from the Knight-Ridder sale). The price was $530mil, but McClatchy had paid $1.2bil for it in 1998. Ouch!