The Newsonomics of the Kochs Rising — and Uprising

The 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, ...

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The Newsonomics of the Koch Brothers and the Sales of U.S.’ Top Metros

How 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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The Newsonomics of Zero, and the New York Times

The New York Times Co.’s zero, in fact, is actually a milestone number. It’s the first increase, however meager, in overall revenues since 2006, when it managed a 1.8 percent increase in revenues.....Overall, the zero plateau provides at least the illusion of a resting point. A point from which ...

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NYT & Mark Thompson’s First Report: Unsteady as She Goes

2012 is the first year in which circulation revenue has surpassed advertising revenue. Full-year, it's now 51% of all revenues. Especially given the continued ad decline, that majority revenue number is hugely important. It's now the foundation of the business, and it gives the Times the only ...

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The Newsonomics of The Tribune’s Metro Agony

The Tribune Company owns eight newspapers, six of them metros. Two — the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune — are in top 10 of U.S. dailies; five — adding in the Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and Baltimore Sun — are in the top 40, while the Hartford Courant ranks 60th. Their ...

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The Newsonomics of 2013 Wizardry: Tribune, Buffett, Murdoch, Paton, Bloomberg, and more

Today, though, most of the reporting power, much of the brand power, and thepolitical power still resides in big companies and their leadership. We may well get our strongest display of that early in 2013: In Washington, the FCC cross-ownership debate may move to center stage in January. And ...

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The Newsonomics of Rupert Murdoch’s Long Game

So Thomson’s ascension is no surprise (“Nine Questions as Murdoch Splits The News Corp. Baby”). Sure, he’s an editor — but he’s a News Corp. editor, and has been for a decade. Robert Thomson has been well schooled in the College of Murdoch. He’s a strategic news executive with a good sense of ...

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Nine Questions on the News Corp Split: The Rise of Twenty-First Century Fox and The Daily’s Demise

Why did The Daily fail? I think the short answer is that it missed the first law of media: Make it interesting. The Daily was attractive, even sometimes stunning, in its visual appeal, but too empty-headed to attract a daily readership. If you are going to call something The Daily, you better ...

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The New York Times and the Thompson Effect: Blow Over or Blowback?

Is the conflating of Hackgate and this BBC scandal fair? We'll see. Let's be clear though. This one will quickly push Hackgate to the background. So, instead of the New York Times playing the white knight, aiding the Guardian in its disclosure of Hackgate, it now gets sucked into the scandal of ...

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For New York Times’ Sake, Mark Thompson Should Step Aside

For the Times, though, it's not a foreign scandal. It's a scandal, like Superstorm Sandy, that will arrive on its doorstep Monday morning. Today, Mark Thompson isn't the head of the Times. Today, the Times has the ability to sidestep the storm. Today, the Times has the ability to move forward, ...

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