jimdahl Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 McClatchy to Buy Knight Ridder for $4.5B At the same time, McClatchy plans to sell 12 of Knight Ridder's 32 newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and the San Jose Mercury News, saying that those papers don't fit the company's longstanding criteria of buying newspapers in growing markets.In addition to the papers in Philadelphia, San Jose, and St. Paul, McClatchy also intends to sell the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio; the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; the Aberdeen American News in South Dakota; the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota; The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind.; the Contra Costa Times and The Monterey County Herald in California and the Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota. Buy it with the Duluth News Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press and you could own a WCHA media empire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagies Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 Buy it with the Duluth News Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press and you could own a WCHA media empire! All Sioux, all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxMD Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 If someone here has $4.5 billion laying around...the Sioux Boosters would appreciate a call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 If someone here has $4.5 billion laying around...the Sioux Boosters would appreciate a call. Got a phone number? I wonder if ForumComm will take a look at GFH or Duluth NT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxMD Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 Got a phone number? (800) 543-8764 or (701) 777-2611 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwing77 Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 I wonder if ForumComm will take a look at GFH or Duluth NT. Oh yeah! I can't wait for the Fargo Foolum to move into the area. You can look for the new Herald to boast things like: 1. Local news only on the front page! 2. Local local local! If it isn't local, let's bury it! 3. If nothing is available locally, let's take a trip to Bumville, ND and talk to old Janette Doe who just got her town record 6th herd of cattle and listen to her tell of the old days of when she only had one old milk cow and a rusting metal bucket to call her own. Seriously, the Fargo Forum is the biggest rag outside of the Pioneer Press. Watch them buy the Herald and watch the Herald become even less readable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDSU grad Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 I wonder if ForumComm will take a look at GFH or Duluth NT. That's the first thought I had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison Dan Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 Oh yeah! I can't wait for the Fargo Foolum to move into the area. You can look for the new Herald to boast things like: 1. Local news only on the front page! 2. Local local local! If it isn't local, let's bury it! 3. If nothing is available locally, let's take a trip to Bumville, ND and talk to old Janette Doe who just got her town record 6th herd of cattle and listen to her tell of the old days of when she only had one old milk cow and a rusting metal bucket to call her own. Seriously, the Fargo Forum is the biggest rag outside of the Pioneer Press. Watch them buy the Herald and watch the Herald become even less readable. I doubt that they'll buy them, they've been a money loser since ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdahl Posted March 13, 2006 Author Share Posted March 13, 2006 I doubt that they'll buy them, they've been a money loser since ever. If the Herald is a money-loser (of which I have no idea), I would think Forum Comm. would be even more interested in it than other parties, because Forum Comm. can capture efficiencies of scale. More consolidated local coverage would result in less local coverage, meaning a smaller news staff needed on the ground in G.F. There are a whole lot of stories duplicated between the two that could be consolidated (major local college athletics, for example). I think a WDAZ/Y style split for newspapers would be a big negative as it reduced original newspaper coverage for the Valley, but it certainly could be profitable for Forum Comm. No matter who ends up owning the Herald, at least it will finally get to ditch the "don't be so useful as to interfere with physical newspaper sales" KRD web template. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDSU grad Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 No matter who ends up owning the Herald, at least it will finally get to ditch the "don't be so useful as to interfere with physical newspaper sales" KRD web template. I'd always wondered about the God-awful web design. I guess I didn't realize it was a corporate-wide policy. The worst part of this deal is that I will no longer get to tease my wife, who thought "Knight Rider" owned the GF Herald. I used to ask her if K.I.T.T. was the managing editor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightonsioux Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 The Grand Forks Herald is far from a money loser. The only loser could be Grand Forks. People can talk about how much they hate the Herald and what an awful job they do, but let's just think for a minute what it would do to this town if there was no Grand Forks Herald. 150 people looking for jobs, probably elswhere and taking their spouses and children with them for one. People think that newspapers are dinosaurs, but in reality newspapers give their town a certain image that no other media outlet can. Can you imagine what will happen to this town if there was no Herald, the Base downsizes and we have to change the nickname! Everybody better be hoping for a good buyer that will let the Herald keep doing what its doing, except with a better website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teeder11 Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 I doubt that they'll buy them, they've been a money loser since ever. Um... just a little reality infusion here. The Herald routinely carries a mid 20 percent profit margin (revenue over expenses). The current profit margin is 24 percent, that's pretty good outside of Wall Street, where corporate hunger for more, more, more will stop at nothing to diminish a newspaper's quality for better dividends. I don't blame them; it just doesn't jibe well with journalism traditions. The Herald carried a helluva debt load after the flood, but has since overcome that, and has posted the profits that Knight Ridder demanded of it. They did this by cutting hard at every level. But to say the paper is a money loser is just plain ignorant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star2city Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 If the Herald is a money-loser (of which I have no idea), I would think Forum Comm. would be even more interested in it than other parties, because Forum Comm. can capture efficiencies of scale. More consolidated local coverage would result in less local coverage, meaning a smaller news staff needed on the ground in G.F. There are a whole lot of stories duplicated between the two that could be consolidated (major local college athletics, for example). I think a WDAZ/Y style split for newspapers would be a big negative as it reduced original newspaper coverage for the Valley, but it certainly could be profitable for Forum Comm. No matter who ends up owning the Herald, at least it will finally get to ditch the "don't be so useful as to interfere with physical newspaper sales" KRD web template. Hate to think of the media impact if Forum Communications took over the Herald. The Valley needs two separate newspapers with editorial staffs totally independent of each other. If the Forum went after the Herald, that might create a backlash in the northern valley due to the Forum's Cass-centric view of issues of statewide importance. Could definitely see The Forum would likely go after the Aberdeen paper or even Duluth's. Other chains that might go after the Herald would be the Bismarck Tribune's owner: Lee Newspapers or the Minot Daily New's: Odgen Newspapers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ND4Life Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Speaking as a former newspaperman, my guess is The Forum would do very little with The Herald if it ended up being the buyer. Any consolidation likely would occur in operations that do not directly affect news coverage -- human resources, circulation, maybe advertising. In fact, one could argue that the quality of regional coverage would improve, with the papers sharing same-day staff-written stories instead of relying on a day-late rewrite from a wire service. Sadly, The Herald is hardly the paper it once was. It enjoyed a reputation within the newspaper industry as a small daily that tried to do things the right way. Today, it seems the entire paper can be folded up and tucked in your back pocket most days. The Forum, simply by virtue of its location in a healthier advertising environment, is able take on the local, regional and statewide enterprise projects The Herald once was known for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bincitysioux Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Isn't the owner of Forum Communications, Steve Marcil, a notorious tight-ass? Would he really be interested in expanding? He already has the GF television market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison Dan Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Oh and the herald doesn't have a gf centric view? Get real - in truth the herald is just an extension of UND. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Oh and the herald doesn't have a gf centric view? Get real - in truth the herald is just an extension of UND. So sayeth the fan of the team where the radio and TV contracts (WDAY-AM and TV) are held by the same company (ForumComm) that owns the local newspaper (The Forum). No cozy-cozy relationship nor potential conflict of interests there possible either, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teeder11 Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Oh and the herald doesn't have a gf centric view? Get real - in truth the herald is just an extension of UND. You are right. The relationship between the Grand Forks paper and UND is close knit. That happens everywhere beat reporters get intertwined with faculty, coaches and administrators. I must say though, when it comes to sports, the Herald reporters, with combined experience of 90 years (even without Virg Foss), do seem to be able to identify an issue that needs closer scrutiny and a critical eye at UND than ones that are more trivial. That doesn't mean they don't falter from time to time. On balance, the paper has taken UND to task on a number of controversial issues, the nickname and logo (editorial board) being tops on the list. The Herald does lack a McFeely-type columnist, though. Someone who can shake things up locally and not mind the public flack that would come with it. The closest thing the Herald has to that is Kevin Fee, sports editor, who tends to take on more critical stories about UND, so that the beat reporters don't get the silent treatment from their sources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND92,96 Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 The Herald does lack a McFeely-type columnist, though. Someone who can shake things up locally and not mind the public flack that would come with it. The closest thing the Herald has to that is Kevin Fee, sports editor, who tends to take on more critical stories about UND, so that the beat reporters don't get the silent treatment from their sources. It's certainly obvious that Wayne Nelson doesn't want to step on certain people's toes. There's an "ask the expert" section in the online version of the Herald where you can ask him questions regarding UND basketball and football. A few weeks ago, I asked him about as diplomatically as possible about how patient he thought Buning would be with the men's basketball program considering its struggles, and especially considering all the fans who leave right after the women's games, but he apparently felt the question was too "controversial" to answer. If that's not a legitimate issue to address, I don't know what is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoteauRinkRat Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Oh and the herald doesn't have a gf centric view? Get real - in truth the herald is just an extension of UND. Does every single thread have to turn into smack? Add something of substance to the discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 The Herald does lack a McFeely-type columnist, though. Someone who can shake things up locally and not mind the public flack that would come with it. If by "McFeely-type columnist", you mean "delusional and slanted", I think Doreen Yellowbird comes pretty close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison Dan Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Does every single thread have to turn into smack? Add something of substance to the discussion. Oh you don't think the herald is UND's biggest cheerleader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Oh you don't think the herald is UND's biggest cheerleader. No. That honor would go to Mark Kauk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoteauRinkRat Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 No. That honor would go to Mark Kauk. On top of your game to start off a great week PCM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandForksGuy Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 If you're interested in reading more about a possible Forum Communications buyout of the Grand Forks Herald, check out my Grand Forks Life blog. You'll find a link there to an interesting article in today's Duluth News Tribune about the possibility of Forum Communications buying out the Herald, the News Tribune, and the Aberdeen American News. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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