Charleston (WV) Gazette to declare bankruptcy ... Ogden to purchase

The Gazette staff is thrilled.
We'll see.

 

Didn't Huntington go through bankruptcy or something akin to it in recent years?

 

I think so, but that was when Champion overpaid for it. This a new company, locally owned.
And apparently, this is a joint venture between HD Media and NCW Media ... That said, there's a lot of overlapping coverage (Huntington and Charleston overlap a lot of local county coverage and the State Journal and the Gazette overlap on a lot of state government and business stuff), much more so than if Ogden had bought it. I suspect there will be some layoffs at any rate.

 

I think this has a good chance of working. Two local bidders each offered 11.5 million dollars for the paper which indicates it is making money. The bankruptcy appears related to some extraneous lawsuits.

While I am sure there will be layoffs and heartache it appears that a publisher has been found with resources, knowledge of the industry and the market and some commitment to journalism. The last time I remember a buyer bringing those qualifications to a purchase were; actually I don't remember such an instance.

 

I worked for Ogden once upon a time. Say why you want about them, they are committed to the product. It’s the Nuttings’ main business, aside from that crappy baseball team.

 

I agree with this. I’d shake Bob or Bill’s hand every year or so when they’d visit, and they always seemed to know their longtime employees. They didn’t make popular decisions, but they were consistent. It was easy to understand what made them happy. They were, for lack of a better phase, the devil I knew. While I think my hometown paper has gone into the toilet under their watch, it’s because of recent staffing decisions made at the local level, and not because of corporate ones.

 

The pay was substandard, which obviously sucked.

The experience I gained at my stop (one of their larger papers at the time, which wasn't saying a lot) was really important. I worked with some great folk.

 

Do you think staff will make out better under the new bidder from Huntington or under Ogden? This is not asked as an excuse to take shots at anyone.

 

Insurance-wise, I think they do better with Ogden, simply because its a bigger company.
Work? Who knows.
Ogden is very involved in state and national politics. That would have made things tough for Ken Ward, Eric Eyre and Phil Kabler. In that regard, I think they are better off with the new ownership.

 

Ogden offered decent, semi-affordable insurance options back yonder.

I can't believe I'm defending the Nuttings.

Done with my threadjack.

 

Ax is falling today at the Gazette. Staffers had to interview for their jobs with HD media.
Rob Byers, EE, is apparently out. So to is longtime Marshall beat writer Doug Smock. No surprise really, since the Huntington-based paper already has a MU staff.

 

That interviewing for jobs tactic is bullying at its worst. Sad. Just a way to cut people and/or slash their salaries in half if they are kept.