What will the largest local news company need to do and be to be successful in the 2020s? Neither Gannett nor Gatehouse has offered any big vision of what that is, or could be, even fueled by new money.
The merger of the United States’ No. 1 and No. 2 newspaper chains will likely spark a new wave of consolidation among its smaller competitors. But will the potential cost savings be eaten up by debt payments to financiers?
Seven-day newspapers aren’t just talking about cutting out one or two days a week in print — they’re talking five or six. Is this the only way to accelerate the transition to digital or speeding their own decline?
A combined GannHouse (Gatenett?) would own 1 out of every 6 daily newspapers in America. The goal? Buy two or three more years to figure out how to make money in digital.
The Times knows its editors’ judgment of what’s important is one of its critical selling points. But in order to surface more than a sliver of its journalism each day, it’s now willing to respond to readers’ interests in a much bigger way.
This hostile takeover didn’t work out. But the thinking of industry executives remains dominated by the inevitable merging of America’s big newspaper chains.
“I think the hard part for something like Esquire or Harper’s Bazaar in digital — even to some extent Vogue — is that you get into the scale game. Digital demands greater scale. I just don’t know how many men are trying to figure out if corduroy is back in fashion.”
Newspaper company CEOs will be the first to tell you a new round of consolidation won’t solve their problems. But it might give them another year or two of breathing room.
The billionaire owner on unions (“I think they did the unionize thing out of desperation”), esports (“We must start fighting for the 16-year-olds all the way to the 30-year-olds, because that’s not our demographic”), and hiring the intern.
It’s a few years behind its East Coast brethren in New York and Washington. But tens of millions in new investment and ambitious digital plans are showing a path back to its former prominence — and beyond.
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: Inside the new L.A. Times, a 100-year vision that bets on tech and top-notch journalism." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 27 Mar. 2019. Web. 26 Aug. 2019.
APA
Doctor, K. (2019, Mar. 27). Newsonomics: Inside the new L.A. Times, a 100-year vision that bets on tech and top-notch journalism. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved August 26, 2019, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/03/newsonomics-inside-the-new-l-a-times-a-100-year-vision-that-bets-on-tech-and-top-notch-journalism/
Chicago
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: Inside the new L.A. Times, a 100-year vision that bets on tech and top-notch journalism." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified March 27, 2019. Accessed August 26, 2019. https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/03/newsonomics-inside-the-new-l-a-times-a-100-year-vision-that-bets-on-tech-and-top-notch-journalism/.
Wikipedia
{{cite web
| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/03/newsonomics-inside-the-new-l-a-times-a-100-year-vision-that-bets-on-tech-and-top-notch-journalism/
| title = Newsonomics: Inside the new L.A. Times, a 100-year vision that bets on tech and top-notch journalism
| last = Doctor
| first = Ken
| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]
| date = 27 March 2019
| accessdate = 26 August 2019
| ref = {{harvid|Doctor|2019}}
}}
