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Gannett to buy Tribune??

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by steveu, Apr 25, 2016.

  1. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    I think part of the motivation is to combine the USA and Tribune company national desks. I think Gannett wants to use the local papers to drive traffic into the national site and there is surely some duplication.

    Also, how much AP does Gannett and the Tribune company subscribe to? Could Gannett pull out of AP and save money?
     
  2. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    It's somewhat remarkable how many generations of Tribune executives have gotten rich gobbling up bonuses while shifting casino chips from one robber baron to the next. Sam Zell is the only one who somehow fucked this up, and even he lost very little of his own money overall.

    Shoutout to Dennis Fitsimmons, the original vampire squid.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2016
    Bronco77 likes this.
  3. Bronco77

    Bronco77 Well-Known Member

    Not to mention how many executives have been paid NOT to work in the various ownership and management changes. No doubt Jack Griffin and Denise Warren were paid handsomely to go away when Ferro and Dearborn took over (as for Fitzsimons, he always reminded me of Snidely Whiplash; must've been the mustache).

    Look at the real estate situation and you realize what a shell of a company Tribune Publishing is. The Tribune paper nearest me is a good example -- it doesn't even own its printing plant, or the land underneath it; it pays Tribune Media rent for the property. The "old" company gets all the revenues from the other publications printed there on a contract basis. And if what I've heard is true, Tribune Publishing doesn't even own the printing presses (it pays Tribune Media to use them). Trib Publishing owns the print and online editions of its newspapers (albeit in several big, lucrative markets) and very little else.
     
  4. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Tribune Media is doing just fine. Profitable broadcast stations and still some valuable real estate in Chicago and L.A. The spinoff of Tribune Publishing was nothing more than cutting out what Tribune Media considered to be a cancer on its bottom line. It's as if the spinoff was set up for Tribune Publishing to fail and just go away. It had little assets from the start, $350 million in debt and all kinds of rent obligations to its "parent" company (with Tribune Media as Mommie Dearest).
     
  5. mrudi19

    mrudi19 Member

    I work for Gannett right now and I've been told Gannett has this thing now where if it doesn't get web clicks, it won't be covered. I'm guessing that's why some of those events aren't being covered there. We have a D-I university and solid preps where I work and I think some of our coverage is going to take a hit because of it.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2016
    CAsportshack likes this.
  6. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    Not to threadjack here, but if nobody's reading it, why should it be covered?
     
    SFIND likes this.
  7. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    Yup.
     
  8. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    This depends on the numbers, I think....."no body" is relative. Are we talking about cutting a field hockey gamer that draws 20 clicks from a largely local page, or cutting all preps because they're doing say, 1000, as opposed to recycled national stuff?
     
  9. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

    Don't you have to consider why people are drawn to your site in the first place? The national stories might get bigger numbers, but what if those stories get those clicks because of the different groups of readers who go to the site because of local stuff? If each prep piece brings in x number of unique readers who almost all end up reading other stuff, isn't the local stuff have more value beyond the raw number of clicks?
     
  10. Madison Sports

    Madison Sports New Member

    In my experience, recruiting stories (for instance) draw a disproportionately high number of clicks, but the vast majority of them come from out-of-towners who likely don't even know which site they're visiting and would never think of specifically visiting your site again, whether for information or entertaining reading. Is that the cornerstone around which you wish to stake your long-term digital success? If so, that sounds shortsighted and poorly thought-out. But not necessarily surprising.
     
  11. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    I find myself asking that question often.
     
  12. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    Another question: How many sites are still focusing on page views? I'm much more interested in engagement time on a story. Advertisers are getting that way, too.
     
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