Newsonomics: Amid Screaming Alarms, Consolidation Mania Turns Feverish

Alden’s going to snatch Gannett! No, Gannett’s going to turn the tables and buy Alden’s Digital First Media! But wait, Gannett will reject Alden — is that a real offer? — and turn its attention to merging with Tribune! No, Tribune — having dispatched its CEO Justin Dearborn to clear the way for ...

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Newsonomics: GateHouse’s Mike Reed Talks About Rolling Up America’s News Industry

    The news shocked long-time newspaper observers two months ago: “Tampa Bay Times to be sold to GateHouse Media in $79M deal.” Had GateHouse devoured yet another storied publisher? No: It was a FloridaPolitics.com April Fool’s prank played out to a near-incredulous audience. Mike ...

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Newsonomics: Alden Global Capital Is Making So Much Money Wrecking Local Journalism It Might Not Want To Stop Anytime Soon

Is there any chance Alden Global Capital might change course? The majority owner of Digital First Media — publisher of The Mercury News, The Denver Post, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11 Southern California dailies, and 49 others from California to Michigan to New Jersey — has faced a rising tide ...

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Newsonomics: The Denver Post’s Protest Should Launch A New Era of “Calling B.S.”

What are we to make of The Denver Post’s “extraordinary display of defiance”? As the paper’s editorial board, led by Chuck Plunkett, fired a fusillade of public protest on Sunday — publishing six pages decrying the paper’s owner, to the social congratulations of the news world — we may have ...

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Newsonomics: Is Tronc About To Go On The Market?

It almost sounds like a riddle: What’s a Tronc without the L.A. Times? As the Tronc sale of the Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune finalizes, now most likely in mid-April, the next question arises: What becomes of Tronc? Its eight remaining titles own an impressive history and still play ...

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Newsonomics: Did Digital First Media Owner Alden Cook The Books?

  That’s the allegation now moving into Delaware’s Chancery Court. This week, Solus Alternative Asset Management LP accused Alden Global Capital — the increasingly maligned majority owner of Digital First Media — of “possible mismanagement and breaches of fiduciary duty.” The big charge: ...

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Newsonomics: Tronc “Crashes”, DFM Owner Sued, News Guard Funded, Advance Tiptoes Into Paywalls — and The Big Lesson From Hypergrowing The Athletic

Is it really only the beginning of March? The news business’ gyrations seem to be moving at warp speed this year, and particularly this week, as two newspaper companies long in the news make new big moves. As Tronc reckons with the crash of its stock price and oh-so-private Alden Global Capital ...

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Newsonomics: The L.A. Times, California Collapse and Oregon’s New Troubles

No, the saga of the Los Angeles Times isn’t the only story in the newspaper world. It’s just that in its breathtaking oddness, it consumed the beginning of our year. Let’s begin with one question about the future of the Times, but then move on to other early-in-the-year questions that may tell ...

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Newsonomics: Vulture Alden Circles Boston

Casual observers tell me it looks to them like Alden, DFM’s owner, is tiring of the business, as it cuts deeply in California and sees seasoned executives like Denver Post publisher Mac Tully and editor Greg Moore leave, fed up. Au contraire. On Wednesday, DFM more than doubled GateHouse’s ...

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Newsonomics: 20 Words That Defined The Bizarre News Year That Was

This is the year America wishes it could take a shower long enough to wash away the scum of daily mud-slinging. Remember 2016? Last year, it seemed as if Tronc was the most memorable word of the news year, a new media name seemingly invented as self-parody. In 2017, the memorable words tumble ...

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