By gutting local advertising overnight, COVID-19 has accelerated strategies — like cutting print days, corporate consolidation, or even closing down offices — that publishers had hoped could wait a while longer.
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?
Newspaper company CEOs will be the first to tell you a new round of consolidation won’t solve their problems. But it might give them another year or two of breathing room.
What’s the best way to follow how the news is changing?
Our daily email, with all the freshest future-of-journalism news.
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: The newspaper industry is thirsty for liquidity as it tries to merge its way out of trouble." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 18 Apr. 2019. Web. 13 Dec. 2024.
APA
Doctor, K. (2019, Apr. 18). Newsonomics: The newspaper industry is thirsty for liquidity as it tries to merge its way out of trouble. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved December 13, 2024, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/04/newsonomics-the-newspaper-industry-is-thirsty-for-liquidity-as-it-tries-to-merge-its-way-out-of-trouble/
Chicago
Doctor, Ken. "Newsonomics: The newspaper industry is thirsty for liquidity as it tries to merge its way out of trouble." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified April 18, 2019. Accessed December 13, 2024. https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/04/newsonomics-the-newspaper-industry-is-thirsty-for-liquidity-as-it-tries-to-merge-its-way-out-of-trouble/.
Wikipedia
{{cite web
| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/04/newsonomics-the-newspaper-industry-is-thirsty-for-liquidity-as-it-tries-to-merge-its-way-out-of-trouble/
| title = Newsonomics: The newspaper industry is thirsty for liquidity as it tries to merge its way out of trouble
| last = Doctor
| first = Ken
| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]
| date = 18 April 2019
| accessdate = 13 December 2024
| ref = {{harvid|Doctor|2019}}
}}