MediaNews Group

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MediaNews Group
Type Private
Founded 1983
Headquarters 101 West Colfax Avenue, Suite 1100, Denver, Colorado 80202 USA
Key people Richard Scudder, chairman

William Dean Singleton, vice chair, CEO

Jody Lodovic, president
Steven Rossi, COO
Industry Media
Products Newspaper
Television
Radio
Website www.medianewsgroup.com
Not to be confused with Media General, an unrelated newspaper and TV group.

MediaNews Group, based in Denver, Colorado, is one of the largest newspaper companies in the United States. It is privately owned and operates 40 daily newspapers in 9 states, with combined daily and Sunday circulation of approximately 1.7 million and 2.3 million, respectively. The company also owns KTVA, a CBS affiliate in Anchorage, Alaska, and radio stations in Texas.

The company's chairman is Gary Wright and its chief executive officer and vice chairman is founder William Dean Singleton. The president is Jody Lodovic. Steven B. Rossi is executive vice president and chief operating officer.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Singleton founded MediaNews Group in 1983.

In August, 2006, the company took out around $350 million in loans to purchase four newspapers from McClatchy Company. Among those providing the loan was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[2] The loan was mostly used to help pay for the acquisition of two significant San Francisco Bay Area newspapers (and some smaller papers), including the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times, the dominant papers in the San Jose and Contra Costa County, California markets; in total, the purchases amounted to roughly $737 million.

Hearst Corporation owns 31% of MediaNews publications outside the San Francisco Bay area. Form 10-Q

[edit] New England Newspapers

In 1995 MediaNews made its first foray into New England, purchasing the Berkshire Eagle and associated newspapers, including the Vermont dailies Brattleboro Reformer and Bennington Banner[3] and Connecticut daily Middletown Press, the last of which it sold soon after to Journal Register Company.[4]

In the next two years, MediaNews expanded its footprint across Massachusetts' northern tier with its purchases of the North Adams Transcript (1996), Sentinel & Enterprise in Fitchburg (1997)[3] and The Sun of Lowell (also in 1997).[5] MediaNews also purchased the Connecticut Post in 2000, paying $203 million.[6]

In 2007, MediaNews expanded in Connecticut, operating the Stamford Advocate and the Greenwich Time, two dailies in lower Fairfield County with a combined circulation of about 35,000. The Hearst Corporation purchased the two papers from the Tribune Company, and MediaNews operates them through an existing agreement between the two companies. MediaNews makes the day-to-day publication decisions at the two papers.

[edit] Corporate Culture

MediaNews Group is known as a cost-cutter in the newspaper publishing industry. The company has a reputation for buying smaller daily newspapers in a single area (examples include Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area) and consolidating their operations, including sharing staff writers and printing facilities. As a result of the cost-cutting, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times,[7] some former employees say that the newspapers are focused on making a profit to the detriment of good journalism.

On the other hand, Singleton is quick to point out that MediaNews is committed to print journalism, not diversification into other media. The Berkshire Eagle editor David E. Scribner, two years after MediaNews bought his newspaper, said the staff respected Singleton despite layoffs because of his hands-on leadership and "traditional emphasis on good writing."[3]

[edit] Anti-Union

In 2004, MediaNews Group acquired the York Daily Record, a 45,000 circulation morning paper in York, PA. As of October, 2007 they have been making the journalists there work without a contract.

Despite many offers from the union and mediation by the government, the situation is still not settled.

[edit] Antitrust Allegations

On July 14, 2006, San Francisco businessman and real estate investor Clint Reilly filed a lawsuit against MediaNews Group and San Francisco Chronicle parent Hearst Corporation, alleging that the two companies have been conspiring to control advertising rates, a violation of antitrust laws. In November 2006, Reilly's attorney presented to U.S. District Judge Susan Illston a letter from Hearst senior vice president James Asher to MediaNews President Jody Lodovic that said the two companies agreed to "offer national advertising and internet advertising sales for their San Francisco Bay Area newspapers on a joint basis, and to consolidate the San Francisco Bay Area distribution networks of such newspapers ...." Illston, suggesting she had been misled by the companies when they said they had not been collaborating, issued a 14-page ruling [8] forbidding Hearst and MediaNews from working together on national advertising sales or distribution. On December 21, 2006, the San Francisco Bay Guardian and nonprofit Media Alliance filed suit to make the details of Reilly's lawsuit -- and MediaNews and the Chronicle's response -- public.[9] As a result of the filing, many documents in the case were voluntarily disclosed by the defendants. The judge allowed redacted versions of two more documents to be released. She kept 17 others under seal. One of the documents unsealed was the deposition of Hearst's Asher, who says that as of September 2006, his company had recorded cumulative losses of $330 million on its investment in the Chronicle[10], which it acquired in mid-2000. He said Hearst proposed selling the Chronicle to MediaNews, but MediaNews didn't offer enough money. Asher also said Hearst and MediaNews have discussed working together for years. Although the trial was scheduled to start Monday, April 30, 2007 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco,[11] the parties announced Wednesday, April 25, 2007 that a settlement had been reached.[12]

[edit] Newspapers

[edit] Dailies

Daily newspapers owned by MediaNews, alphabetically by state and hometown, are:

 

In addition, MediaNews manages but does not own The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut and Greenwich Time of Greenwich, Connecticut. The company runs the newspapers for the Hearst Corporation under a joint operating agreement.[13]

[edit] Weekly newspapers

[edit] Television Station

[edit] Other properties

Other MediaNews properties include:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2006.
  2. ^ ""Gates Foundation Makes MediaNews Loan", Toronto Star. August 22, 2006.
  3. ^ a b c Elfland, Mike. "Sentinel & Enterprise Sale Set," Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), January 8, 1997.
  4. ^ "Business Briefs," Union-News (Springfield, Mass.), August 26, 1995
  5. ^ "Lowell Paper Sold," Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), July 9, 1997.
  6. ^ Gatlin, Greg. "MediaNews Drops Bid." Boston Herald, August 9, 2000.
  7. ^ Menn, Joseph. "There Are Two Sides to This Publisher's Story". Los Angeles Times. March 22, 2006.
  8. ^ U.S. District Court Order Re: Second Application for Temporary Restraining Order, November 28, 2006.
  9. ^ Williamson, Kate. "Weekly, Nonprofit Sue to Open Records". San Francisco Examiner, December 22, 2006.
  10. ^ Said, Carolyn. "Hearst, MediaNews Talks Included Possible Sale of Chronicle", San Francisco Chronicle, February 1, 2007.
  11. ^ "MediaNews, Hearst Trial Set to Proceed", San Francisco Examiner. February 9, 2007.
  12. ^ Egelko, Bob. "Hearst, MediaNews Group settle Reilly suit", San Francisco Chronicle, 2007-04-25. Retrieved on 2007-05-30. 
  13. ^ "Tribune Completes Sale Of 2 Papers", news brief, The Hartford Courant, November 2, 2007, accessed November 12, 2007

[edit] External links

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