Alden Proposes Purchase of Tribune Publishing

The chief reason the NYT dumped the Globe is for the tax refund. The company bought the Globe for $1.1 billion and sold it for $70 million. So they were able to report a billion dollar plus loss on their tax returns and they saved about $375 million in taxes. Teh Tiems company had incurred a lot of debt to do stock buybacks and when the indistry tanked they needed cash.

I acknowledge your point about the risks of the costs exceeding the benefits. It is just that I think that one way or another at least one newspaper will survive in Florida and Illinois.

 

I agree with most of your points on this topic, but I will still quibble: What can a newspaper reporter offer nowadays that is more unique than a print product?

The market has already stripped newspapers of exclusivity over publishing, photography, breaking news, live coverage, etc. Do we really think news organizations would benefit from ridding themselves entirely of one of the few things that still set them apart?

Every game I attend nowadays includes a half dozen people creating their own digital media with photos, video highlights, live-streaming, etc. It may not always be professional standard, but it is in-house, free and often of surprisingly good quality (particularly sports photography from youngsters and Boomer/Gen Z trophy wives).

In my own city, passionate local sports fans have already started a couple small digital media organizations (3-4 participants) that churn out "Ones to Watch" listicles, social media cards, "hype" interviews, etc on their FB, Twitter and IG accounts. All of it published free to audiences on social media timelines, unburdened by the curse of financial profit or the need to adhere to journalistic norms or ethics.

The one thing they can't do easily is to publish such content on a physical product with widespread circulation on a daily/weekly basis. I understand the economics of print are awful, but if you shutter that capability permanently, is there anything to genuinely separate a professional journalist from a local blogger/Team Mom poster?

The perceived authority of the masthead? A self-righteous sense of moral commitment to the Fourth Estate? A blue check on Twitter?

Yes, truly insightful, eloquent, investigative and revelatory content... But let's be real: We all know that content is the exception and not the daily norm, particularly in smaller markets. That's what makes it stand out when you finally manage to piece such stories together.

Certainly I can create TikToks/IG reels and hide all of my best content behind paywalls until we bleed this thing out entirely.

But I'm not sure any of that creates as much use value as the sports front hanging on a student-athlete's wall or refrigerator, the sports fronts framed and handed out for posterity at team banquets or even the non-descript sports pages which simply add names, faces and events to a local archive.

 

The truth is what you say here is closer to 100 percent correct than all the consultants and their mumbo-jumbo "goals" for the upcoming year. Look, newspapers for many reasons are on a fast track to death. Mostly because the hedge funds got hold of them and they made some good money stripping the papers bare, selling the prime buildings and property. There is no thought of what happens once everything is bled dry. No hedge fund is in this for the long haul or to make newspapers actually succeed in the future. Again, consultants will laugh at your post, but it's much closer to what should be going on than all the b.s. Gannett and others are trying to sell now.

 

Well, there it is … like the Death Star looming over Scarif.

 

This sucks

 

This was my dream paper growing up. Got offered a job there but the timing wasn't right. I certainly would have been laid off by now.

 

On the other hand ...

The Baltimore Sun to be acquired by nonprofit from Tribune Publishing

 

Last one out, turn off the lights ...

 

It was good while it lasted. Which is to say, until Sam Zell came along and the death spiral began.

 

I wonder how much the nonprofit will pay? This is just speculation but I wonder if the Maryland properties are losing money. The Washington Post is putting out a hell of a paper and I could see them eating into the revenues of the Maryland properties. I wonder if Baltimore and Annapolis are in the ICU.

 

The death spiral was going to happen regardless.

But Zell paid us $34/share for shares that market forces would have driven to single digits. My 401(k) is forever grateful for that.

 

Can't imagine what Tribune will look like under the placekicker publishing piranha.

Wait, yes I can.