MediaNews picks off four NEPA papers

The sale of four papers spells the end of 130 years of local ownership. The Times-Tribune of Scranton, Citizens' Voice of Wilkes-Barre, Republican-Herald of Pottsville, and Standard-Speaker of Hazleton.

 

Day-umm. Respect to the Lynett family for not pulling any punches ...

We feel it is important to express our personal dissatisfaction with the sale of Times-Shamrock newspapers to MediaNews Group, a subsidiary of Alden Capital. This was a transaction that we do not support or endorse. Alden does not reflect the business principles we feel are consistent with the stewardship of any newspaper.

The sale was driven by a majority of our shareholders. We understand the fears about our ability to remain competitive. We recognize the underlying concerns about the newspaper industry’s revenue and audience declines, and the desire of many of the shareholders to leave the painful decisions to cut costs, coverage and employees in someone else’s hands.

We remained confident and hopeful that our current Board of Directors and management team would have been able to lead us through the industry’s headwinds more effectively and humanely than a hedge fund like Alden.

The willingness to sell a company steeped in integrity and family tradition – and staffed by loyal, bright, compassionate employees – to a company with such a devastating reputation in the industry runs against everything we believe in. We are concerned for our employees, our communities and our family legacy.

 

I hope they meant that. ... Sucks that I have to say it, yeah.

 

I'm sorry, but those "headwinds" have been blowing that way for 25 years.

 

Probably go as well as it did 20 years ago when MediaNews acquired a cluster of papers in southcentral Pennsylvania.

 

The family kept the building, so Alden can't sell off that property. That leaves gutting the newsroom, shutting the printing plant, and trucking in the Scranton paper from East Jabip.

 

Have to think the delivery method should cut some costs....