April 19, 2024
In five languages (English, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian) and two U.S. printing, “Newsonomics: Twelve Trends That Will Shape the News You Get” is the first Ken Doctor book. Sign up here for notice of the new Newsonomics Readers.
Is Rupert right? Friday afternoon, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch tweeted the following message: “Strong word Tribune newspaper group to be bought by big Wall St firm, LA Times to go to philanthropist Eli Broad and local group.” He’s talking about a deal that has been brewing for at least a ...
Read MoreToday, the Orange County Register’s parent Freedom Communications Inc. said it would file for bankruptcy protection Monday, at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Santa Ana. The long-expected move (which I’ve recently noted) further sets the stage for the continuing ...
Read MoreVeteran Los Angeles Times staffers looked at Page One today and believed the company had sent them a strong message, on this, the long-awaited day when buyouts were announced in the newsroom. Encircling Page One, an all-enveloping American Airlines ad, which left room for three stories on the ...
Read MoreIt’s a trademark line of Austin Beutner’s: “I cannot imagine Los Angeles without a vibrant L.A. Times.” As anyone who follows media knows, the Los Angeles Times publisher’s imagination short-circuited the day after Labor Day, when he was fired by Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin (“Tribune to ...
Read MoreIt’s power vs. power. Who will blink first — and, importantly, how quickly? On Thursday, a group of 60 Los Angeles civic leaders, topped by two former mayors and such heavyweights as Mickey Kantor, chairman of the Los Angeles 2020 Commission; Anthony Pritzker, managing partner of the Pritzker ...
Read MoreMaybe it’s an L.A. thing, but Austin Beutner, ousted from his position as publisher of Tribune Publishing’s California newspaper group, almost seemed to be channeling Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday: “I’ll be back!” Knowing that his entry card, his email address and his job as publisher ...
Read MoreUpdates on this story, at Politico Media Tribune Publishing will announce Tuesday the termination of highly regarded L.A. Times publisher Austin Beutner, I’ve learned. Beutner’s leave-taking may be announced as a resignation. The firing is an unexpected one, though one built on ...
Read MoreCritics can say what they want about the diminishment about the L.A. Times. Its news presence and ability to set agendas, through its reporting and opinion pages, is certainly reduced, but it’s still got the only megaphone of its kind in town. As Gabriel Kahn, a University of Southern ...
Read MoreThe new board’s mandate, of course, is to maximize its take on the sale. Tribune newspaper profits run at the roughly $200 million level, maybe a third of which comes out of L.A. So, take the market multiple of 3 or 4 times that number as a price — or $600 million-plus — for the eight papers, ...
Read MoreHow did we get here? How did we get to a place where a half dozen of the top newspaper nameplates in America could fall into overtly political hands? What does it tell us about the reshaping of the U.S. daily landscape? How might the Koch brothers’ ownership fare, a lesson applied here that may ...
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