RIP Stephens Media

[Inky_Wretch]

Though I'm not sure what it means for a company to buy "substantially all" of a newspaper chain. New Media is paying $102.5 million for the newspaper group.

New Media Investment Group to Buy Stephens Media for $102.5M | Arkansas Business News | ArkansasBusiness.com

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

GateHouse in sheep's clothing, apparently.

Get your furlough calendar ready!

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Here's the announcement.

 

[JayFarrar]

I believe that means that Stephens isn't selling its chunk of ownership in BANG or whatever it is called.

They also have a stake in another company and it isnt clear what happens there.

 

[Matt Stephens]

I'm guessing Las Vegas immediately becomes New Media's biggest publication?

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I believe that means that Stephens isn't selling its chunk of ownership in BANG or whatever it is called.

They also have a stake in another company and it isnt clear what happens there.

I guess the biggest question is what happens with that ******* lovechild in northwest Arkansas between Stephens and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

 

[Desk_dude]

Gatehouse's editing and design is done in Austin.

 

[MileHigh]

Worked at Stephens properties for a couple of years in the last century. Not a fan. Then again, need to think of any corporates I was ever a fan of. I guess Knight Ridder.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I guess the biggest question is what happens with that ******* lovechild in northwest Arkansas between Stephens and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The Review-Journal story I read said the NWA papers are not part of the sale. I guess WEHCO will buy them out separately.

 

[murphyc]

My relatively brief time with Stephens about a dozen years ago wasn't all that positive.
I was at a small weekly at the time, competing against a daily Stephens paper. The lieutenant at our police department stopped by one day and asked why our boss had a for sale sign at his house. We were stunned and asked our boss. He admitted he was moving and selling the paper. One potential buyer wanted to do payments, while the other was offering cash. He took the cash offer from Stephens. The longtime publisher of the daily paper thus became our boss.
When the Stephens suits came to town and gave their "everything is so wonderful" speech, I told them the big fear around town was Stephens was either going to shut us down (our paper had been around for nearly 120 years by this point) since we were the competition, or make us the weekly subsection of the daily. I told them they needed to make me the editor and let the paper continue doing what it had been doing under our previous owner. That way, the town would see it wasn't as bad as it seemed. To my surprise, they agreed.
Only problem: I kept all my old duties, plus most of the duties my boss had been handling, for just a smidge more pay. Oh, and my new boss was even more of a ******* than I thought. He penned a column to our readers talking about how great the changes (new page sizes, new printers and more) were and how the new owners were deeply committed to serving the community, etc. Then he told me to put my name on it. I refused.
Fast forward about nine months. Between the dual jobs and my mom dying of cancer, I'd had enough. My boss sifted through the applications and showed me the resumes of the finalists. Keep in mind the job entailed a ton of writing and photography, in addition to editing a young reporter's work. One applicant was far less qualified than the others. The only newspaper experience this guy had was drawing cartoons. No writing, photography or editing experience at all. Guess which guy was hired to replace me?

 

[Starman]

My relatively brief time with Stephens about a dozen years ago wasn't all that positive.
I was at a small weekly at the time, competing against a daily Stephens paper. The lieutenant at our police department stopped by one day and asked why our boss had a for sale sign at his house. We were stunned and asked our boss. He admitted he was moving and selling the paper. One potential buyer wanted to do payments, while the other was offering cash. He took the cash offer from Stephens. The longtime publisher of the daily paper thus became our boss.
When the Stephens suits came to town and gave their "everything is so wonderful" speech, I told them the big fear around town was Stephens was either going to shut us down (our paper had been around for nearly 120 years by this point) since we were the competition, or make us the weekly subsection of the daily. I told them they needed to make me the editor and let the paper continue doing what it had been doing under our previous owner. That way, the town would see it wasn't as bad as it seemed. To my surprise, they agreed.
Only problem: I kept all my old duties, plus most of the duties my boss had been handling, for just a smidge more pay. Oh, and my new boss was even more of a ******* than I thought. He penned a column to our readers talking about how great the changes (new page sizes, new printers and more) were and how the new owners were deeply committed to serving the community, etc. Then he told me to put my name on it. I refused.
Fast forward about nine months. Between the dual jobs and my mom dying of cancer, I'd had enough. My boss sifted through the applications and showed me the resumes of the finalists. Keep in mind the job entailed a ton of writing and photography, in addition to editing a young reporter's work. One applicant was far less qualified than the others. The only newspaper experience this guy had was drawing cartoons. No writing, photography or editing experience at all. Guess which guy was hired to replace me?

Hope they got some good cartoons out of the deal.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I've been told by a GateHouse veteran that Stephens layout people's days are over. By personal experience, that will be a massive improvement.

 

[JayFarrar]

Does anyone have any idea how many people staff the Gatehouse hub in Austin and what they handle now?

The Gatehouse papers in my area, are built in-house, so they aren't using the hub anyway.

I can't imagine that Austin has the capacity to take in eight dailies and 65 weeklies without a serious upgrade in people and equipment.

That could mean a bunch of jobs coming open.

 

[Spartan Squad]

When did Gatehouse switch the location of their hubs from New England? My last stop rebelled against having to ship everything back east so we got to keep our inhouse design, but have since moved on from the Gatehouse paper. I thought they were doing hubs in the Massachusetts area and didn't hear they went a little more central with their local.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

The silver lining in the deal could be the Stephens papers getting AP back.

 

[Matt Stephens]

The silver lining in the deal could be the Stephens papers getting AP back.

I enjoyed my time at Stephens, but that was one thing I wasn't a fan on. It did, at least, force you to fill with good local copy and not rely on the wire.

 

[bigpern23]

When did Gatehouse switch the location of their hubs from New England? My last stop rebelled against having to ship everything back east so we got to keep our inhouse design, but have since moved on from the Gatehouse paper. I thought they were doing hubs in the Massachusetts area and didn't hear they went a little more central with their local.

When I got laid off from Gatehouse a few years ago, they were in the process of creating hubs in Framingham, Mass., and another in Illinois (I forget where, exactly). As I understood it then, the Illinois hub would handle the bulk of the dailies, while the Massachusetts hub would mostly handle weeklies. Not sure if that's how it all played out, but that was the plan they announced to us (right before they canned me with a kid on the way and a pregnant woman, among others).

My experience working at a Stephens daily was quite positive. Good bosses who cared about quality journalism, great co-workers who busted their butts covering the local news. They paid a reasonable wage, offered solid benefits and three weeks vacation a year, with a chance to earn up to five weeks if I worked there long enough (it went up to four weeks after five years and five weeks after 10 years, IIRC). I can't say a bad word about them.

 

[Riptide]

Romenesko, August 2013:

GateHouse Media says it selected Austin for its Center for News & Designbecause the city has many available journalists “including seasoned copy editors and designers,” a top journalism school at the University of Texas, as well as “a desirable quality of life.” 



» GateHouse Center for News & Design to be located in Austin JIMROMENESKO.COM


The Gatehouse hub is not associated with the Austin paper, which is owned by another chain.


More stuff here:
Let me google that for you

 

[bigpern23]

Romenesko, August 2013:

GateHouse Media says it selected Austin for its Center for News & Designbecause the city has many available journalists “including seasoned copy editors and designers,” a top journalism school at the University of Texas, as well as “a desirable quality of life.” 



» GateHouse Center for News & Design to be located in Austin JIMROMENESKO.COM


The Gatehouse hub is not associated with the Austin paper, which is owned by another chain.

Also known as a feeder program of cheap labor. I bet the median age of designers at the hub drops to 22.

 

[Riptide]

Also known as a feeder program of cheap labor. I bet the median age of designers at the hub drops to 22.

Yes, that is the intent. Young, cheap and timid.