April 26, 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.
On Thursday, Michael Ferro solidified his control of Tronc, the company he seized a more tentative kind of control of just 13 months ago, deposing then-Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin in a quick coup de press. This week’s move looked financial, but too, speaks deeply to power and control. ...
Read More2016 goes down as a memorable year for those in and around the media. Though audience levels have never been higher, the digital transformation burden weighed ever more heavily on news media’s back. Then “the media” saw itself pummeled endlessly in the run-up to the election and even more in ...
Read MoreFirst came the election; now, for the news business, comes the reckoning. The internecine media wars – full of self-criticism and finger-pointing – dominated the online discussions about the business during the two weeks after the election. But many working journalists face a more immediate ...
Read MoreIt seems to be going around this week, but try not to catch it: Gannettenfreude. While it might seem like a great, borrowed-from-the-Teutonic word for a soap opera-like, mangled newspaper M&A mess, Gannettenfreude may be even more pernicious. Gannettenfreude is the taking of delight in the ...
Read MoreAs Gannett’s deal to buy Tronc unwound in real time Thursday, punctuated by historic one-day share price slides, those in and around the deal struggled for words to describe it. Collapse. Hit the wall. Game over. However, for the money guys all around this deal, it’s a phenomenon they’ve seen ...
Read MoreEarly in the month, I reported an “imminent” sale of Tronc, publisher of a trove of newspapers including big-city broadsheets like The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun, to Gannett, publisher of USA Today as well as a vast array of regional newspapers around the ...
Read MoreIt’s been a remarkable year for the nation, and its press. Transfixed by the Trump phenomenon, election anxiety has all but consumed us. But soon, what has felt like a national colonoscopy will soon be over, and the press will march (or at least step) forward. As we consider the most ...
Read MoreWhen officials at Tronc (formerly known as Tribune Publishing) canceled a September roadshow highlighting to investors in a half-dozen cities the bright future of the company just a day after announcing it, speculation began in earnest among Tronc’s close watchers. Was it as mundane as trouble ...
Read MoreIt’s apparently no longer a question of whether to sell or not, but for how much. For four months, Tronc – the company formerly known as Tribune Publishing, parent of The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune among other similarly august titles in smaller markets – has steadfastly and ...
Read MoreIn a move of perhaps canny timing, two top Tronc executives are now enjoying enhanced pay packages – ones that will pay out millions of dollars should Tronc be sold to Gannett or another bidder. Further, the possibility of sale – still a quite live one this summer – could be on the table ...
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