McClatchy to Resell 12 Papers It's Buying

[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye]
There was both joy and despair across the Knight Ridder newspaper chain as employees learned that the McClatchy Company, which announced plans yesterday to acquire the company's 32 papers, would promptly sell 12 of them. Those at the 12 papers to be sold -- including The Philadelphia Inquirer and The San Jose Mercury News -- now face continued uncertainty about who will own them, and the prospect of a less desirable owner than the one they had expected. McClatchy, which owns 12 papers -- including the Bee papers in Central California, The Star Tribune in Minneapolis and The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. -- will become the nation's second-biggest newspaper company, behind Gannett, if it completes the $4.5 billion acquisition. The Gannett Company, which publishes USA Today, did not make a bid for Knight Ridder, but analysts said it remained a possible buyer for some of the 12 papers that McClatchy does not want. Other possible buyers include William Dean Singleton, chief executive of the MediaNews Group, which publishes The Denver Post and The Salt Lake Tribune, and who presided over the shutdown of The Houston Post. Eight of the 12 papers are unionized, which could make them less desirable acquisitions. The Newspaper Guild has also expressed interest in buying them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/business/media/14paper.html
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[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Geraldine Fabrikant & Floyd Norris]
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* The Future in Black and White
[Commentary] Good and factual reporting and independent commentary of the kind you can't get elsewhere is where the successful journalistic outlets will create value in the future, as they have in the past. The trick will be adapting old journalism standards to the new opportunities that technology offers.
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