Jan 25, 2009

Speculation

Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews, visited the Los Angeles Daily News on Friday. Except for anonymous conjecture in the comments section for this post, I've heard nothing concrete about what he said or proposed or ordered, if anything.

LA Observed referenced some newsroom scuttlebutt about publishing the Daily News on fewer days. There's the universal copy desk concept still looming, with LANG's Inland Division merging copy desks as early as this month and the remaining three papers following in April.

Whether further cuts or more profound changes are required might depend a great deal on the outcomes of union negotiations with the newsroom guilds in Denver and San Jose, the fate of the Rocky Mountain News, and the financial health of Hearst.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

FYI: the Guild at the Daily News begins negotiations for a new contract this week.

Anonymous said...

and now the real fun begins. they have been moving the copy desks for two years at least, back and forth like yoyos. hearst needs to be smart and bid dean hasta luego, only very bad financial consequences loom ahead. the daily news fewer days won't save much, reduced advertising and circ revenues and an even quicker death.

Anonymous said...

Daily News is losing buckets of money. The lang sisters....san gabe, ontario etc. make money from the DN national ads. The DN doesn't make money on it's own, it loses but makes money for the sisters. The logo "Los Angeles" Daily sells a lot of national ads and movie ads.

Anonymous said...

rumor is there should be a big announcement on monday. dean met with everyone this weekend. stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

Really,"a lot of national ads"? So the Daily News is doing better than the rest of the industry in national ads? Really.

Anonymous said...

I think 2:13 meant the LADN is a loss leader, but the LA names draws revenue from national advertisers that otherwise wouldn't give LANG another look.

Anonymous said...

if the daily news doesn't make any money on national ads that is their own fault. no one in the building understands pricing. if it is a group buy you price based on circulation and it should be profitable or why sell it. if it isn't profitable you don't make it up in volume. the daily news is not a loss leader for the rest of lang, they receive their fair share of national and major dollars when sold as a group buy. they just don't have anyone who can sell, manage, price, etc. however, they are talented in letting people go.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Ed Moss can hire another talentless individual to revamp pricing in majors and national. It seems to have worked out so well in local retail advertising. Quite possibly the magazine expert can help.