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Alden Global Capital Doesn’t Take No For An Answer
Alden Global Capital just can’t understand. Why would any newspaper not want to be the next to pass through its digestive tract?
As I wrote on Monday, the DallasNews Corporation recently agreed to be acquired by Hearst at the price of $14 a share. Soon after, Alden swooped in with a surprise offer at $16.50 a share.
So now Alden’s big mad. Its July 22 letter making the offer was all sweetness and light, expressing its “keen interest” in protecting “this local treasure” and professing “the sincerity and intensity of this commitment.” Last night’s letter was all elbows…
Joshua Benton for NiemanLab reports on the latest arm twisting by Alden Global Capital.
“Take our case directly to your shareholders” implies a proxy battle in which DallasNews shareholders could vote to take Alden’s offer over Hearst’s. But “shareholders,” in this case, pretty much just means Decherd. He personally controls a majority of all shareholder votes
Editor and Publisher carries today’s Dallas News press release about the entity filing a proxy statement which does note that Alden Global attempts is akin to annoyingly poking the others with a sharp stick:
DallasNews Corporation (Nasdaq: DALN), the holding company of The Dallas Morning News and Medium Giant, has filed a preliminary proxy statement in connection with its pending merger with Hearst, one of the nation’s leading information, services and media companies, for $15.00 per share in cash.
Importantly, Robert W. Decherd, the current owner of a majority of the voting power of DallasNews common stock, has agreed to vote his shares in favor of the Hearst merger. Decherd’s support is necessary to obtain the requisite shareholder approval and thus essential to the Hearst merger or, in fact, any similar proposed transaction.
Finger Publishing Buys Berlin Journal Newspapers
In a smaller merger deal Editor and Publisher passes on the news from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association that Berlin Journal Newspaper group of five weekly newspapers in Wisconsin has been sold to Finger Publishing which publishes a dozen weekly newspapers also in Wisconsin.
From the Berlin Journal Newspapers Facebook page:
Officially announced to staff on Thursday, July 31, Berlin Journal Newspapers’ owner and publisher, Ty Gonyo, shared his decision to retire with Thursday being his final day.
At the same time, staff were introduced to the company’s new owner, with Berlin Journal Newspapers now joining Finger Publishing, based in Black Earth, Wisconsin, which owns and operates 12 additional weekly newspapers and six shoppers.
Ty Gonyo expressed his sincere appreciation for the greater Green Lake County and Omro communities, with new owner Tom Finger affirming his commitment to all current Berlin Journal Newspapers operations, with the Berlin headquarters remaining open to serve the community.
What’s a Page of Newspaper News That Doesn’t Include Gannett
After a difficult first half of the year, Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the country, is executing $100 million in cuts and rethinking its subscription strategy, executives announced Thursday.
The company ended its most recent quarter with a profit of $78.4 million, up from the $13.7 million profit it posted during the same period last year. However, total revenue fell 8.6% year-over-year to $584.9 million. To address this issue, Gannett recently began making cuts with the goal of saving $100 million. Those reductions include closing two of the company’s largest print facilities, shifting some of its markets to mail delivery and automating and outsourcing certain parts of its business.
Gannett is also changing its subscription strategy in an effort to reduce churn, executives said Thursday. Like many news companies, Gannett has tried to entice new readers by offering extremely cheap, introductory subscriptions. For example, one introductory offer gives USA Today subscribers daily delivery Monday-Friday for $9.99 a month for the first three months. That strategy led to high subscription rates, but many readers left after the introductory offers expired.
Instead, Gannett will focus on annual subscription offers, executives said. The company will also start raising prices in markets with higher engagement…
That last part sounds like screwing the loyal readers.
The Washington Post is Experiencing a Different Kind of Loss
On New Year’s Eve, The Atlantic announced an eye-catching double hire from the Washington Post, bringing over the star political journalists Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer … Two days into the new year, it was revealed that another Post political reporter, Tyler Pager, would be returning to the New York Times, where he used to work; a few days after that, we learned that Josh Dawsey, also a political reporter, would return to the Wall Street Journal, and that Leigh Ann Caldwell, a high-profile journalist who anchored videos, events, and a newsletter for the Post, would join Puck; the day after that, it was reported that the Post was laying off around a hundred staffers on the business side of the paper. In the midst of all this, Ann Telnaes, a long-serving editorial cartoonist in the Post’s opinion section, quit after alleging that editors killed a cartoon depicting Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner, and other billionaires (and Mickey Mouse) genuflecting before then-President-elect Donald Trump.
John Allsop at Columbia Journalism Review covers the incredible Exodus from the Washington Post.
As the deadline for the buyout program, which fell last week, approached, many Post staffers—yet more boldface names among them—decided they were out. Among them, according to various reports, were…
New York Post Takes Its Tabloid Journalism to LaLaLand
The New York Post is going Hollywood.
The nation’s most popular tabloid will launch The California Post early next year — delivering its brand of fearless, common-sense journalism and legendary headlines at a critical juncture for the Golden State.
“Los Angeles and California surely need a daily dose of The Post as an antidote to the jaundiced, jaded journalism that has sadly proliferated,” said Robert Thomson, CEO of The Post’s parent company, News Corp.
Alexandra Steigrad for The New York Post reveals that Rupert Murdoch is opening up a West Coast edition in time to influence (do newspapers still have influence?) the 2026 California Governor’s race and the national midterm elections.
“We are at a pivotal moment for the city and the state, and there is no doubt that The Post will play a crucial role in engaging and enlightening readers, who are starved of serious reporting and puckish wit.”
Here is the Associated Press’ coverage by Jennifer Peltz:
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Post is launching a California tabloid newspaper and news site next year, the company announced Monday, bringing an assertive, irreverent and conservative-friendly fixture of the Big Apple media landscape to the Golden State. In the process, it is creating a 21st-century rarity: a new American newspaper with a robust print edition.
Unfortunately I would guess The California Post, like The New York Post, will not carry a comics page.
Fun and Games Equal Puzzles and Profits
For years, puzzles and games have been considered simple diversions tucked between the comics and classifieds. But for some of the nation’s leading local media companies, they’ve become central to building sustainable digital audiences, creating new first-party data streams, and even boosting customer lifetime value.
That’s the shared experience of Jay Horton, president of WEHCO Digital Media; Lee Bachlet, COO of CherryRoad Media; and Roland Hamilton, SVP of Sales and Distribution at King Features. During a recent Editor & Publisher-sponsored webinar, the three spoke candidly about how interactive games—particularly through King Features Puzzles & Games —have become critical to audience development strategies across small and mid-sized markets.
Editor and Publisher presents a tutorial on using puzzles to increase engagement to your webpage.
Unfortunately for The Daily Cartoonist audience:
When asked to compare the value of puzzles to comics, Horton didn’t hesitate. “Puzzles are better than comics. Better repeat visits, stronger engagement time—two important metrics to us.”
Bachlet agreed. “Everybody has their favorite comics, but puzzles are more universal. They keep people longer. They create those kinds of consumer interactions that we want to create.”
Hamilton offered a balanced view: “Comics are an integral part of the print experience and key for subscriber retention. That’s why we continue to invest in both, including bringing new voices and interactive experiences into our comics and puzzles platforms.”
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