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Media Watch

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The beginning of the end

11/15/05 · 9:01 pm :: posted by WB     

The Mating Sounds of Dinosaurs
#2 Newspaper Chain bites the dust 

This column has been predicting for years the end of large, daily newspapers, and no story or event can prove that assertion better than the fact that America's  second-largest chain is being forced to sell out by failing circulation and irrelevance to the marketplace.

Yesterday under growing pressure from big shareholders, Knight Ridder, the publisher of 32 newspapers including The Miami Herald and The Philadelphia Inquirer, is being forced to sell by pressure from its major shareholders who want to get their money out of this business dinosaur.

The meltdown began last week when Knight Ridder's largest shareholder, Private Capital Management, publicly urged the company’s sale because of “limited growth across the newspaper industry... continuing consolidation among the traditional sources of print advertising revenue and the redirection of advertising dollars to other media.” The next two largest shareholders quickly said they agreed.

What's different this time is that K-R is too big for the other big chains to swallow and may see its parts sold to local "would-be" publishers.

Read the story in today's New York Times story and BusinessWeek online. 

10 comments
Blog posts and comments are entirely the thoughts and ideas of the people who write them and in no way represent the views of CapeCodToday.com, eCape, Inc., or its employees or owners.

11/15/05 @ 9:36 pm
WB [Member] writes:
Gee, Porky, which of Tony Ridder's baubles do you want. If I buy you the San Jose Mercury News will you move west?
 [ Show all comments by this user ]
11/15/05 @ 9:41 pm
need an editor? and spell check? [Visitor] writes:
I'd be glad to volunteer
11/16/05 @ 8:59 am
Otis the town drunk [Visitor] writes:
Also, fact check.



SAN JOSE, Nov. 14, 2005 -- Knight Ridder (NYSE: KRI) announced today that
its Board of Directors has decided to explore strategic alternatives to
enhance shareholder value, including a possible sale of the company. The
company is working with Goldman, Sachs & Co., its long-time financial
advisor, in this process.

What Knight Ridder announced is its intention to "explore options" -- which of course could include a sale of the whole pig, or breaking it up piece by piece or something else. Yeah, I'd guess it's probably being sold, but to characterize the announcement as KR being forced to sell or biting the dust is a wishful blogger's' alternative reality.
As for irrelevant, if you combine print and online readers, KR is one of the nation's two or three leading info sources.
If you broke off its outposts, several like Philly and Miami, would probably be among the top 20, combined print and web readers.
Irrelevant, indeed. I'd say bottom-lined to the edge of mediocrity -- but not irrelevant yet.

Sorry to actually insert some facts here amid the speculation and amok-running -- I know it's not very blog-like.
11/16/05 @ 10:12 am
WB [Member] writes:
Sorry Otis, but "none are so blind as they who will not see."

Read the links and look for a job in another medium.
 [ Show all comments by this user ]
11/16/05 @ 1:36 pm
Drew [Member] writes:
The "G" word (GOOGLE) is rarely mentioned in these obituaries. In between phone calls at work, I can click on Google News and get news stories as they happen. The newspapers are still good editorial fodder, but newspaper editors seem to be dooming themselves by their bias (deciding what we should and should not be reading) and disconnect with their readership.
Interactivity and fairness are key to the modern media, and newspapers (especially their editors) seem to be dropping the ball.

We will always have the need for quality journalists, but the continued employ of biased editors in the role of story and letter to the editor filters has become a hindrance to continued readership.
 [ Show all comments by this user ]
11/16/05 @ 5:22 pm
Otis the blind drunk [Visitor] writes:
Thank you, Walter.
I've posted the top of the New York Times story so that others can ponder the difference between what it actually says and "being forced to sell" and "biting the dust."
But you're right, Momma told me I'd go blind.

By VIKAS BAJAJ
New York Times

Under growing pressure from big shareholders, Knight Ridder, the publisher of 32 newspapers including The Miami Herald and The Philadelphia Inquirer, said yesterday that it was considering a sale of the company.

Knight Ridder, which like much of the newspaper industry is contending with falling circulation and tepid revenue growth, said it had hired Goldman Sachs to help it evaluate "strategic alternatives." There is no guarantee that it will reach a deal, the company said.
11/16/05 @ 10:08 pm
bryfry [Visitor] writes:
We are now entering the Ice Age for newsprint. It started +/- 15 years ago with a little thing called the Internet (just ask Al Gore).
Since losing the Herald delivery on the Cape, I have finally decided I am no longer going to get ANY newspaper. Ever. It's a waste (even though I recycled ever page I ever got), and I will not contribute to the ever growing bias (either way) in these rags. Not that the internet is the end all, it's just that I'm done with the rags.

Sorry, Otis. I think you need to think about a new line of work. Maybe writing copy for internet news sources might keep food on the table (or booze in the little brown bag).

In the distance I can hear the bell toll.........
11/21/05 @ 9:15 am
Otis the town drunk [Visitor] writes:
Actually, Bry, anyone who writes for a newspaper (or a radio station or a TV station) is writing for the Internet. That's the reality of 2005.
And here's another reality: Those newspaper sites, in virtually every market, are the top local news sites. The ratio between Cape Cod Online and Cape Cod Today views is roughly that between attendance at New England Patriot games at Gillette Stadium and Harwich High games.
And if you think there's less bias on the Internet than in print journalism...well, I won't insult you again, Bry, but I just think that's an amazing opinion.
11/21/05 @ 2:12 pm
factoid [Visitor] writes:
O.T.T.D;
Seems like a fact Otis? Try finding Dan McCullough's column online. He is not paid, therefore he does not write 'for the internet'. I'm sure he's not alone.
11/21/05 @ 2:48 pm
Otis the town drunk [Visitor] writes:
If McCullough's not online, I'm sure it's his choice rather than the Times.'
He's not a staffer, he's an independent contractor, so he's got the right to sign off on whether he allows Internet use of his stuff.
I don't know if he's paid or not. I'd guess yes, but you never know, and I'm not privy to the money.
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About This Blog

hat135Up-starts, up-smarts, other cranks & dilettantes adorn a media scene once renown for excellence, so this journal will attempt to point out the more obvious foibles and triumphs of the local press to our gentle readers and fellow Cape Codders. Contributors include Walter Brooks, Jack Coleman and Spyro Mitrokostas.

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