Aug 6, 2009

New publisher at the Daily News

The Los Angeles Newspaper Group today named Jack Klunder, former president of the Los Angeles Times, as publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News.

Klunder left LANG in 2005 to head up the circulation department for the Times, where he'd worked before. Late last month, Times publisher Eddie Hartenstein announced Klunder was leaving for points unknown. Now we know.

This is the second new publisher for the LANG chain in as many days.

From the Daily News:

The appointment, which takes effect Aug. 10, marks Klunder's return to the nine-paper Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG), where he served as vice president of circulation from 1999 to 2005.

"Jack's understanding of our market and his impressive track record make him ideally suited to run the Daily News," said Fred Hamilton, LANG's chief executive officer.

Klunder was the Times' executive vice president of circulation and distribution from 2005 until earlier this year, and was responsible for all circulation, advertising and newspaper operations while serving as Times president in 2008. He'd previously spent 20 years in various management positions at the Times, from 1976 to 1996.

Before joining LANG for the first time, Klunder was a founding partner of Equant Marketing Group, which established an inbound/outbound call center in Denver and generated $12 million in revenues within two years.

Klunder received a business management degree from Pepperdine University and a graduate degree from UCLA's Anderson School of Management.

Klunder is married to Dee Dee and has four daughters.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing they would take him back...but of course everyone that knew him during his stay at LANG before is gone. Unbelievable!!!

Anonymous said...

Major clown. Major ego.

Anonymous said...

Serious disagreement with the second poster. Solid newspaper guy, straight shooter, no BS, treats people fairly, not bad attributes. I am surprised they took him back because he has talent.

Anonymous said...

so what is his philosophy? does he cut cut cut like little eddie mossie?

Anonymous said...

7:54: you worked with him? sounds too good to be true. LANG suits are all the same if you know what i mean.

Anonymous said...

why didn't liz geir want it?

Anonymous said...

little eddie cut because he doesn't know anything else to do. klunder wants to build if his bosses let him.

as far as liz, i think she wants to work out of her home. tough to do as publisher of a newspaper.

Anonymous said...

Of the snarky bloggers I wonder how many actually know of Jack's ability, business acumen and knowledge or if they just go for a quiet and very personal little giggle.

Anonymous said...

i see a hint of the same pattern here amongst LANGERS though and it worries me. everytime there is a new exec, employees seem to think it's going to change things for the better not realizing that it's STILL MNG. Marching orders come down from Denver. Lean Dean's philosophy is to gut and decimate. on top of that, newspapers importance and readership continues to dwindle. wake up people. it's a dead end job. just not sure whey people can't see that and try and plan for their future. what will they do when it shutters?

newsjunkie said...

the other thing that gets me is that most LANG rank and file are making less than a checker at ralphs or vons without a college degree make and yet hang on like it's some kind of wonderful.

Anonymous said...

employees, of which I am not one, of Lang, can't control MNG. However, I would much rather work for someone who is good and fair than not. Klunder fits that bill. He won't make all the problems that all newspapers face go away, but, he will lead his team and they will know where he stands. In today's enviornment, I will take that.

Anonymous said...

Didn't do much for the LAT or he would still be there. His last "act" at LANG - he outsourced distribution and managed to cut delivery costs but drove circulation down tremendously because of the unreliablitly of the independent contractors delivering the paper. Was there a net savings or did the drop in circ revenue eat that up? What ever the case, if he couldn't do it at the times what make Freddy think he will do it at the DN?

Anonymous said...

9:50: EXACTLY

Anonymous said...

9:50 is exactly right. Klunder was the architect behind centralizing circulation, eliminating employee carriers and contracting out the work. It was an unmitigated disaster -- delivery problems quintupled, customer service diminished, and circulation dropped as a result. The projected cost savings were more than wiped out by the losses in circulation revenue and in fixing the problems 18 months later. The overarching directive might not have been his -- doing it as cheaply as possible is Dean's M.O. -- but Klunder's name is all over it, so he bears a good chunk of the responsibility. 4:58 is right, too -- one of the big reasons he's back is because most of the folks who had to deal with the fallout from his last major move are all gone from LANG. He might be a great guy, but he has a lot to live down.

Anonymous said...

sorry people. the last couple of posters are kind of right, but, not exactly.

when we work for others, we can voice our opinion, but when the boss says do it, we do or we leave.

circulation is in the toilet at well run newspapers for a number of reasons.

to put this all on klunder is wrong.

based on the number of people i have worked for, klunder is near the top for the same reasons mentioned earlier.

Anonymous said...

The numero uno ad guy in San Gabe just got axed.