Hello everyone,
News that News Journal and Daily Times owner Gannett is facing a takeover battle drew yawns outside the area’s communications/journalism community. Chain-owned daily newspapers have been sliding toward irrelevance for several years, with digital dimes not coming close to matching the massive loss in print dollars.
The $1.36 billion takeover attempt by the private equity mogul behind the 200-paper chain Digital First could bring its slash and burn strategy to Gannett. Granted, Gannett does not have a lot of fat at the local level. Previous management accomplished that task.
The low hanging fruit at Gannett, which Digital First mentioned in its press release, involves putting an end to continuing investments in digital strategies. So far, the effort has not reversed revenue declines.
Gannett has been pursuing the Gizmodo digital site, which attracts a lot of eyeballs that would not come anywhere near a print product.
Add in further Digital First making further cuts in staff, (especially in the video/digital side of mid-sized papers like the News Journal) and the savings could be substantial across the large chain.
An even leaner staff at the News Journal and Daily Times carries consequences. Elsewhere, newspapers with skeleton staffs are often content to grind out rewrites and click-worthy “scanner news” of accidents and fires.
There is a train of thought that argues that undertaker companies like Digital First serve a necessary purpose. The belief is that holding a slow-moving going out of business sale will get us closer to a new news model.
What form that model will take remains unclear and it is equally possible that we will see more markets become “news deserts. Delaware seems to be better off than some states but suffers from news outlets operating in “silos” that often duplicate coverage and rarely cooperate. Meanwhile, less click-worthy happenings in government and other areas often go unreported.
The biggest news about the parent company of The News Journal and Daily Times being subject to a hostile takeover may be the tepid response to the news and the newspaper purposely keeping the story out of its editions.
Then again, offering $1.36 billion for USA Today and once great newspapers, like the Des Moines Register and Louisville Courier-Journal, amounts to a pittance. – Doug Rainey, publisher.
