The vulture fund may be just fine with waiting a bit longer to make its next move to consolidate the local newspaper industry. Meanwhile, newsrooms wait.
By selling Berkshire Hathaway’s newspapers to Lee Enterprises, the world’s most successful investor is acknowledging the industry’s downhill slide is not near an end.
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?
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: The GateHouse/Gannett newspaper megamerger could be announced as soon as Monday morning." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 4 Aug. 2019. Web. 18 Oct. 2024.
APA
Doctor, K. (2019, Aug. 4). Newsonomics: The GateHouse/Gannett newspaper megamerger could be announced as soon as Monday morning. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved October 18, 2024, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/08/newsonomics-the-gatehouse-gannett-newspaper-megamerger-could-be-announced-as-soon-as-tomorrow-morning/
Chicago
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: The GateHouse/Gannett newspaper megamerger could be announced as soon as Monday morning." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified August 4, 2019. Accessed October 18, 2024. https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/08/newsonomics-the-gatehouse-gannett-newspaper-megamerger-could-be-announced-as-soon-as-tomorrow-morning/.
Wikipedia
{{cite web
| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/08/newsonomics-the-gatehouse-gannett-newspaper-megamerger-could-be-announced-as-soon-as-tomorrow-morning/
| title = Newsonomics: The GateHouse/Gannett newspaper megamerger could be announced as soon as Monday morning
| last = Doctor
| first = Ken
| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]
| date = 4 August 2019
| accessdate = 18 October 2024
| ref = {{harvid|Doctor|2019}}
}}