Columbus Dispatch sold

[JayFarrar]

Saw on the twitterz that GateHouse/ New Media bought the Columbus Dispatch for an undisclosed amount of money today.

Don't have a link though.

Any thoughts from Buckeye land?

 

[wicked]

Columbus Dispatch print products sold to New Media Investment Group | The Columbus Dispatch

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

GateHouse.

 

[SFIND]

I don't work there or live in Columbus, but I've always been impressed with the Dispatch when I see it. They've managed to keep good content even after their switch to tabloid a couple of years ago. They produce some solid journalism and have great writers. And the ThisWeek papers they have in the suburbs have good quality. I was under the impression the papers made nice money.

I hope they are able to maintain the quality and staffing they've enjoyed, but I'm fearful for them. Didn't GateHouse just gut a bunch papers earlier this year, like Sarosta Florida or something? Too many Ohio papers (Cincinnati, Dayton) have been gutted in the last decade and are a shell of their former selves. I hope the Dispatch won't suffer the same fate.

 

[Ace]

Good luck, Columbus friends.

 

[nickp]

The Wolfe family will keep its TV and radio properties, along with Ohio News Network

 

[wicked]

And that's why I don't understand the deal, unless they were really taking a bath on the Dispatch and the weekly papers. I'd have to think the broadcast properties are on the market, too, no matter what's being said publicly.

 

[Clippers Logo]

On Day 2 of full GateHouse control, Managing Editor Ben Marrison is out.

 

[Editude]

And at 52, a tough, in-between age to get a replacement-level gig.

 

[Liut]

On Day 2 of full GateHouse control, Managing Editor Ben Marrison is out.

Was afraid of this when the sale was announced. Marrison is a top-notch newspaperman. I wish him the best.

 

[lostwages]

GateHouse bought Stephens Media, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal, in March, and is laying off virtually every designer in the building in July. All design and much of the copy editing will be done by its regional editing center in Austin, Texas. If you're on the desk in Columbus, make sure your resume is updated.

 

[Waldo9939]

Marrison was good for that joint. A lot of the sports staffers (all good guys by the way) mostly have been there for 20-30-plus years and make good money. My guess is GateHouse is gonna offer buyouts and they take them because most of those guys probably are not gonna want to hang around. Just a guess.

 

[sgreenwell]

I hope they are able to maintain the quality and staffing they've enjoyed, but I'm fearful for them. Didn't GateHouse just gut a bunch papers earlier this year, like Sarosta Florida or something?

They bought the Providence Journal recently, with the sale announced in July 2014 and finalized in September. Since then, they've done multiple layoffs / buyouts, and doubled the newsstand price.

 

[Fredrick]

Bye bye Columbus. Gatehouse is a disaster.

 

[OscarG]

I left a daily newspaper last year and now work for Gatehouse. It's not so bad, and I think design hubs are already exploding around the country. It's a way to save money for the paper.

 

[Riptide]

I left a daily newspaper last year and now work for Gatehouse. It's not so bad, and I think design hubs are already exploding around the country. It's a way to save money for the paper.

I don't know how these chains are saving money if their design hubs are exploding.

Fire bad!

 

[Clippers Logo]

I left a daily newspaper last year and now work for Gatehouse. It's not so bad, and I think design hubs are already exploding around the country. It's a way to save money for the paper.

It's also a way to put competent designers and copy editors out of work. GateHouse hires young, inexperienced people to fill those design jobs in Austin. And fails to train them.

Many of the chain's papers look worse than they did one year ago. And if your shop hasn't been hit with some big-time layoffs yet, believe me, it will.

GateHouse isn't about journalism. Not even about putting out a quality product. It's about profit. It's about slashing and burning. It's about Kirk Davis' bonus each December.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I left a daily newspaper last year and now work for Gatehouse. It's not so bad, and I think design hubs are already exploding around the country. It's a way to save money for the paper.

I am waiting for the day when design hubs are opened in Manilla. I don't think it will be long.

 

[Riptide]

I am waiting for the day when design hubs are opened in Manilla. I don't think it will be long.

Sounds like a wet dream straight out of Quant's bible. </crossthread>

 

[lostwages]

I left a daily newspaper last year and now work for Gatehouse. It's not so bad, and I think design hubs are already exploding around the country. It's a way to save money for the paper.

It's bad if the company is interested in preserving the quality of local knowledge in editing, which GateHouse is not. How is someone on the desk in Austin who has never been to Las Vegas or Columbus or Providence going to catch errors relating to geography of those cities? Or when a reporter misspells a city councilman's name? Or when an overworked sports reporter slips up and writes the wrong nickname for a high school team?

It saves money by putting people who would have caught those mistakes out of work. If that's the goal - and I believe it is - mission accomplished.