Comments on: Singleton’s next chapter: Can he steer MediaNews to a digital future?

By: The shakeup at MediaNews: Why it could be the leadup to a massive newspaper consolidation » Nieman Journalism Lab » Pushing to the Future of Journalism

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:12:47 +0000

[...] plummeted; newspaper values tumbled; and lenders threatened foreclosure. Lodovic engineered a strategic and very quick bankruptcy that wiped out $765 million in debt by placing nearly all of the company’s stock in the hands [...]

By: This Week in Review: The New York Times’ paywall plans, and what’s behind MediaNews’ bankruptcy | Mark Coddington

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:50:50 +0000

[...] day before.) For the facts and background of the filing, we’ve got a few sources: At the Lab, MediaNews veteran Martin Langeveld has a whole lot of history and insight on MediaNews chief Dean Singleton. News business [...]

By: This Week in Review: The New York Times’ paywall plans, and what’s behind MediaNews’ bankruptcy » Nieman Journalism Lab

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:08:03 +0000

By: grier horner

grier horner — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:07:27 +0000

Fascinating article, Martin.
Dean Singleton is charismatic and
I liked him as a man. But his
union-busting, pay-cutting policies
were hard to take.

I didn’t realize his MS had become
so disabling and applaud his spirit dealing
and humor in getting his buttons
buttoned.

As a retired employee, however, I
wonder if the company’s financial
woe could impact our
pensions.

By: John

John — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:30:39 +0000

Commenters like Matt Terenzio are just the worst people in the world. Just hit-and-run haters, who just bash other people.
Man, the world would be such a better place without jerks like you.

By: Bill Dunphy

Bill Dunphy — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:57:56 +0000

Martin, nice, thoughtful bit of reporting. I’ve read so much about Singleton (or rather seen so much about Singleton) that simply demonizes him, it’s refreshing to read a piece that offers some real perspective, but still lets me draw my own conclusions

By: Marc Matteo

Marc Matteo — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:39:19 +0000

Whether it is an accurate assesment or not Dean Singleton has always represented — to me anyway — the worst in newspaper ownership: someone who is only interested in newspaper profits and is willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve them.

The grand Singleton vision appears to be one where there is only one physical newspaper operation, located wherever labor can be suitably exploited, to be fed by minimal bureaus in the various cities he calls his own. These cities will not know what it means to have a “local newspaper” because in reality they won’t have one, they’ll have a cheap facsimile that will be deemed “good enough” by the Singleton bean counters. You can’t price things like “quality” or “community involvement” or even “public service journalism” you see.

The real shame, however, is that Singleton isn’t alone in his vision. I know of no other newspaper chain that hasn’t driven at least a little bit down the road paved by Singleton.

By: Matt Terenzio

Matt Terenzio — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:39:39 +0000

“Singleton has an understanding of the web. . .but he’s not an active computer user. He has often expressed faith in the future of print, and has strongly espoused charging for content in order to protect the print side of the business. . .”

This sounds much more like someone that doesn’t understand the web, IMHO.

By: Howard Weaver

Howard Weaver — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:38:27 +0000

A well-informed and definitely helpful analysis, Martin.

Sadly, I can’t see any reason to suspect better motives or behavior from Singleton.