Times buys Tampa Trib

Condolences to all affected by this.
Just a side note on the LVRJ and LV Sun comment. I see that from time to time and the Sun is complete crap, a waste of newsprint. I don't think there is anything in it that wasn't in the RJ already in some form. I will never forget seeing one of the worst examples of journalism this side of prep gamers. Last November, the columnist for the Sun wrote a hype job on the UNLV basketball team heading into the season. He wrote capsules on EVERY game on the schedule and included his predicted final score in all of them ... in November.

 

Bleep the Times. Bleep Poynter. For the Times it was never about competing with the Tribune. They had to pull the petty bullshit like co-opting the word Tampa, just to confuse readers. Now this, which is kind of how the Corleone Family would operate. If the Tribune couldn't compete in the marketplace, fine. Let it die on the vine. It was no skin off the Times' nose. But to buy it, then kill it and not let the staff put out a farewell edition was the most classless move I've seen among newspaper and publishing company owners, and that's saying a lot.

 

Without a doubt. I would hope that a paper in this situation would take a different approach to covering the news — more explanatory, more features, more investigations and more opinions, etc., instead of covering the day-to-day stuff. More like a magazine.

I've not quite figured out what the Sun is trying to be. I get the sense that the Sun hasn't figured it out, either.

 

Haven't heard anything yet from the political side. Curious to see what readers have to say. The two papers have an obvious chasm between their political slant. Times is liberal and Tribune was decidedly (almost comically at times) conservative. Be interesting to see how the conservative readers react.

 

It'll be interesting to see if the Times does what other papers (Atlanta and Chattanooga are most prominent in my mind) have done after a merger: Separate editorial pages, reflecting left and right viewpoints.

Knowing the Times, though, I doubt they will.

And, yes, I know this isn't a merger.

 

“The continued competition between the two newspapers was threatening to both,” said Times chairman and CEO Paul Tash. “There are very few cities that are able to sustain more than one daily newspaper, and the Tampa Bay region is not among them.”

Except that the Tampa Bay region remains anchored by two big, distinct cities separated by a large body of water.

It's a money grab, pure and simple. Tash looks foolish when he patronizes the residents of Tampa.

 

Thanks for pointing that out, Rip. It is very important to note that the cities ARE vastly different. Sounds cliche, but it is most certainly the case.

 

See also: Oakland Tribune.

 

The most interesting part of the story:

"... Times chairman and CEO Paul Tash said Wednesday the amount borrowed is not the purchase price. That's because the debt includes money for costs such as professional fees associated with the transaction."

 

One of the closest comparisons I can make to this situation is the Dallas Morning News' purchase and euthanization of the Dallas Times Herald about 25 years ago (I'd worked at the Times Herald for a few years and still had quite a few friends there at the time of its death). It was the bloodiest newspaper war imaginable for about 15 years and the Morning News absolutely despised the Times Herald (and vice versa). But when d-day arrived, the Morning News waited one day to close on the transaction, enabling Times Herald staffers use their building and presses so they could at least print a farewell edition. The Tampa Bay Times is guilty of corporate cruelty for not following that example.