With Lookout Local, our longtime news industry columnist Ken Doctor is going to apply what he’s learned to try to fill the growing void in local reporting.
The number of employees soon to be cut at the No. 1 U.S. newspaper chain is about the same number as the No. 2 chain has in total. But newsrooms should mostly be spared — for now.
What will the largest local news company need to do and be to be successful in the 2020s? Neither Gannett nor Gatehouse has offered any big vision of what that is, or could be, even fueled by new money.
The merger of the United States’ No. 1 and No. 2 newspaper chains will likely spark a new wave of consolidation among its smaller competitors. But will the potential cost savings be eaten up by debt payments to financiers?
Seven-day newspapers aren’t just talking about cutting out one or two days a week in print — they’re talking five or six. Is this the only way to accelerate the transition to digital or speeding their own decline?
A combined GannHouse (Gatenett?) would own 1 out of every 6 daily newspapers in America. The goal? Buy two or three more years to figure out how to make money in digital.
The Times knows its editors’ judgment of what’s important is one of its critical selling points. But in order to surface more than a sliver of its journalism each day, it’s now willing to respond to readers’ interests in a much bigger way.
A combined company would own 1 of every 6 daily newspapers in America — and a little more breathing room. But eventually, there has to be a plan beyond just getting bigger.
This hostile takeover didn’t work out. But the thinking of industry executives remains dominated by the inevitable merging of America’s big newspaper chains.
The billionaire owner on unions (“I think they did the unionize thing out of desperation”), esports (“We must start fighting for the 16-year-olds all the way to the 30-year-olds, because that’s not our demographic”), and hiring the intern.
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: Patrick Soon-Shiong on the L.A. Times’ transmedia future, french-fry tweets, and modernizing the “newspaper” business." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 28 Mar. 2019. Web. 11 Dec. 2024.
APA
Doctor, K. (2019, Mar. 28). Newsonomics: Patrick Soon-Shiong on the L.A. Times’ transmedia future, french-fry tweets, and modernizing the “newspaper” business. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved December 11, 2024, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/03/newsonomics-patrick-soon-shiong-on-the-l-a-times-transmedia-future-french-fry-tweets-and-modernizing-the-newspaper-business/
Chicago
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: Patrick Soon-Shiong on the L.A. Times’ transmedia future, french-fry tweets, and modernizing the “newspaper” business." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified March 28, 2019. Accessed December 11, 2024. https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/03/newsonomics-patrick-soon-shiong-on-the-l-a-times-transmedia-future-french-fry-tweets-and-modernizing-the-newspaper-business/.
Wikipedia
{{cite web
| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/03/newsonomics-patrick-soon-shiong-on-the-l-a-times-transmedia-future-french-fry-tweets-and-modernizing-the-newspaper-business/
| title = Newsonomics: Patrick Soon-Shiong on the L.A. Times’ transmedia future, french-fry tweets, and modernizing the “newspaper” business
| last = Doctor
| first = Ken
| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]
| date = 28 March 2019
| accessdate = 11 December 2024
| ref = {{harvid|Doctor|2019}}
}}
