The number of employees soon to be cut at the No. 1 U.S. newspaper chain is about the same number as the No. 2 chain has in total. But newsrooms should mostly be spared — for now.
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.
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: The newspaper industry is thirsty for liquidity as it tries to merge its way out of trouble." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 18 Apr. 2019. Web. 18 Oct. 2019.
APA
Doctor, K. (2019, Apr. 18). Newsonomics: The newspaper industry is thirsty for liquidity as it tries to merge its way out of trouble. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved October 18, 2019, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/04/newsonomics-the-newspaper-industry-is-thirsty-for-liquidity-as-it-tries-to-merge-its-way-out-of-trouble/
Chicago
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: The newspaper industry is thirsty for liquidity as it tries to merge its way out of trouble." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified April 18, 2019. Accessed October 18, 2019. https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/04/newsonomics-the-newspaper-industry-is-thirsty-for-liquidity-as-it-tries-to-merge-its-way-out-of-trouble/.
Wikipedia
{{cite web
| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/04/newsonomics-the-newspaper-industry-is-thirsty-for-liquidity-as-it-tries-to-merge-its-way-out-of-trouble/
| title = Newsonomics: The newspaper industry is thirsty for liquidity as it tries to merge its way out of trouble
| last = Doctor
| first = Ken
| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]
| date = 18 April 2019
| accessdate = 18 October 2019
| ref = {{harvid|Doctor|2019}}
}}
