From BANG to LANG?

MediaNews Group's decision to merge its 12 Bay Area newspapers into three has led to speculation that the company could do something similar with its nine Southern California papers, collectively known as the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.

I can only speculate myself, but I see the potential for structural mimicry if MediaNews succeeds in its stalled bid to buy the Orange County Register.

With the Register, LANG would look more like the Bay Area News Group did before yesterday's merger, with the Register playing the role of the Mercury News: a large paper with a statewide brand in a relatively affluent county that could serve as an editorial center of gravity for a larger region. The LANG papers already exist as three clusters of three, a structure that could be collapsed into two or three newspapers.

However, MediaNews would have to have a reason to further consolidate LANG. One obvious reason would be a desire to cut staff to lower costs - the BANG merger led to 120 layoffs. I might be wrong, but I think LANG was already leaner than BANG in terms of staff and so might not be able to stand such a huge "streamlining." (Indeed, the Register itself might be more vulnerable if cuts are a priority.)

Another reason could be that MediaNews actually believes the BANG model is more efficient and effective: Fewer brand names, a more uniform editorial approach, better positioning to do mobile, etc.

One reason MediaNews might leave LANG alone, even after a Register deal, would be to give it time to evaluate the Bay Area merger to see what works and what doesn't. Undoubtedly, there will be backlash from readers and circulation will probably drop (though the consolidation will mask some of this). But this feels like a post-print production plan and so BANG might be the guinea pig that gets isolated and studied until it recovers - or doesn't.

One big BANG

MediaNews Group owns two clusters of newspapers in California: the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG) and the Bay Area News Group (BANG). In the past decade, mergers and consolidation have turned the individual papers into something of a news blob, with each newsroom producing its own pages in semi-autonomous fashion, but often sharing substantial resources, including inside news and business pages, copy editors, photo, and advertising.

The Bay Area News Group, which owns newspapers in the East Bay, Silicon Valley and San Jose, has finally shed the pretension of autonomy and has named itself a single editorial entity.

According to a memo obtained by blogger Richard Brenneman, the BANG papers, led by editor Dave Butler, will now share a single managing editor for print, Bert Robinson, and a single managing for online, breaking news and photography, Randall Keith. Robinson and Keith served in similar capacities at the BANG flagship, the San Jose Mercury News.

Sports, photo and business will similarly fall under a single BANG editor.

This will mean more sharing of content between papers, though it's not clear if further staff cuts will follow. The papers, which include the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times, will retain their editorial boards to run opinion and commentary.

From the memo:

Beginning today, we are taking another significant step in streamlining our organization to maximize our operating efficiency. Continuing the process that began with the creation of the Bay Area News Group, the news divisions of all Bay Area News Group newspapers will now operate under a single, common management team under the direction of Dave Butler, editor of the Mercury News and vice president for news for MediaNews Group. This move follows similar consolidations in our other divisions. 

Dave’s appointment and the announcement of the first official BANG-wide news management team are logical next steps in our efforts to make full use of the breadth and depth of the entire group. While a less-formal arrangement has been in place for some time, our recently negotiated labor agreements recognize complete consolidation. 

This reorganization will have an immediate impact on top management, and it’s with regret that we also announce that [BANG Executive Editor] Kevin Keane and [BANG-Easy Bay Managing Editor] Pete Wevurski are leaving the company today. Please join with me in thanking them for their years of service and wishing them well in their new adventures.

The rest of the memo is here.

No national consolidation plan, Singleton says

Dean Singleton, who's still the voice of MediaNews Group, put out a statement late today saying the newspaper chain has no plans for a national copy desk, despite a union letter warning of just such a proposal. He blames the union for jumping the gun, based on a casual conversation, and adds that this is why he doesn't include the guild in any planning sessions.

Romenesko also got hold of a memo sent from Dave Butler, head of MNG's California papers, that also says no national copy desk is planned, but indicates more regional clustering is probable. I'm reprinting the memos here, both taken from the Romenesko website. First Dave, then Dean:

Fellow MNG editors: 

FYI. I spoke to Dean Singleton this afternoon about the statement put out by the Guild regarding a national copy editing center. Below is his response to their press release. I would further add that we have two projects going on that fly in the face of any “national” center. We have consultant Ken Harding working with editors in Denver, Salt Lake and St. Paul to figure out ways to make local news production more efficient at each paper, and just yesterday a group from BANG went to LANG to exchange ideas on how we might streamline our regional desks. We also have some mini-regional desks around the company and may, at some point, consider more. Like most other newspaper companies, regionalization — where appropriate — seems to work well. Would we rule out doing something else? Nope. But the capital costs of one center and the challenges involved seem pretty daunting to me. Please share this information as is appropriate. 

-Dave 

******* 

Dean’s statement:
The Newspaper Guild on Friday issued a press release referring to a casual phone conversation I had with Bernie Lunser, president of the Guild, concerning the future of the newspaper industry and how newspapers can better serve their readers in print, online and on mobile products. 

Contrary to the assertions made in the release, there are no plans for “national consolidation” of MNG’s editing processes. 

While we constantly assess better ways to serve our readers in this changing and uncertain world, including the Guild in these considerations are not a part of those assessments.
The irresponsible Guild press release is a perfect example of why we don’t. 

There is no future for any of us if we continue to live in the past. Someone should tell that to the Guild. 

- Dean

MediaNews consolidation plans pick up speed

The universal copy desk is on the march. Already implemented within the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, parent-company MediaNews Group has approached the Newspaper Guild about the potential for similar consolidation plans on a national level. Whether the company wants consolidated copy desks at regional hubs, as Gannett has planned, or something more drastic remains to be seen.

The changes would undoubtedly save money, make it easier to share content and allow for the outsourcing of some functions. It would also make it easier to implement chain-wide changes, such as adopting an MNG mobile news service or a pay wall strategy. And, of course, it would make any other consolidation or merger proposals easier to implement.

The guild press release follows:

MEDIANEWS APPROACHES GUILD ABOUT POTENTIAL PRODUCTION CONSOLIDATION

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FEB. 11, 2011

 

WASHINGTON, DC -- MediaNews Group Executive Chairman Dean Singleton has contacted national leadership of The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA) to discuss a potential national consolidation of the company's copy desks, pagination and front-end production.

 

We are seeking additional information from MediaNews to better understand what is being considered. At this point, we have no information to assess the timing of such a change, how many newspapers might be affected, or what such a radical shift in production would mean for current employees.

 

A union task force is being established consisting of leaders from all the Guild-represented work sites at MediaNews, including locations in Denver; York, Pa.; Northern and Southern California; and St. Paul, Minn. We hope to reach out to newsrooms at non-represented MediaNews operations as well. Our goal is to preserve jobs and quality journalism while engaging constructively with MediaNews.

 

We will keep our members and communities informed as we learn more details.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Bernie Lunzer, TNG-CWA President, 202-434-7175

Technical difficults lead to one-day merger of LANG sports sections*

Readers of the Long Beach Press-Telegram awoke today to find the front page of their sports came from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, a sister paper in the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. No, this isn't another consolidation measure, but the result of a LANG-wide computer glitch.

Here's the note to readers:

Due to major technological issues, the print edition of your Press-Telegram is incomplete today. The inability to transmit several pages in multiple sections forced a decision to substitute some similar content from some of the P-T's sister papers in the L.A. Newspaper Group. All efforts will be made to get you all the content you missed via the website and/or the Saturday morning print edition, preferably both. We realize this resulted in the exclusion of some important local content (high school sports, local news) and some shortened versions of other stories. We regret the inconvenience that this has caused.

While a computer glitch could affect any publication, the fact that Press-Telegram substituted the Tribune as backup is a reminder of just how consolidated the LANG papers already are. After all, the two sports sections are designed and edited on a single copy desk based in the San Gabriel Valley. When a computer problem hits the Press-Telegram copy desk, it hits all of the paper's copy desks.

*Update: One-for-all indeed. Both the Daily Breeze and the Daily News had non-local sports pages as well due to the same glitch (Notes to readers in the DB and DN). h/t LA Observed.

What's ahead for MediaNews - and what's left behind

In the best of possible worlds, the shakeup at MediaNews that left company president Jody Lodovic without a job and CEO Dean Singleton with a (severely?) diminished role would serve as an object lesson in how moral cheapness leads to downfall; a final judgment on mass consolidations and layoffs divorced from any sense of journalistic mission, ethics or service; karma for all the dedicated journalists told their dedication was a childish distraction, and for all the readers told they must accept lower and lower standards under the same brand name.

But, I doubt such lessons will be learned. There are now two forces at work in MediaNews, and neither of them is reflection. The first will accelerate change, which is inevitable. The second will shape the change, which is worrisome.

The first force results from the removal of Singleton as CEO. The new directors are no less interested in moneymaking than he and no more interested in quality journalism. Yet, they come without the baggage and ego that clouds strategic decision-making.

The second force results from the removal of the baggage and ego that at least served as a check on the most drastic consolidation plans. The new board is not going to try to preserve a newspaper company, as Singleton has. This could be a benefit to innovation, creating a potential for a sane and creative digital strategy (which is sorely lacking in MediaNews). But this also removes a check on pain.

Martin Langeveld, a former MediaNews executive now at Nieman Journalism Lab, has an excellent post about what to expect, and he makes a convincing argument that Singleton no longer much of a hand in in the company:

While Singleton may have ideas for strategic consolidations, without Lodovic he lacks the necessary financial engineering savvy, and without control of the board, he can’t make anything happen. The new title for Singleton looks and feels like a face-saving ambassadorial position.

In other words, it is time to look beyond Lean Dean. He is not the future.

So, who is in charge and what do they want? Alden Global Capital is the group that now has board control of MediaNews, and the investment company has a deep financial interest in a number of other distressed newspaper companies, many of which might be ripe for a leveling consolidation. Again, from Langeveld:

Clearly, Alden is the outfit with the most skin in the game, having investments in MediaNews, Freedom, Philadelphia Media, Journal Register, Freedom, Tribune and Postmedia. (Incidentally, as a further extension of this network, JP Morgan Chase, which has been involved in the Tribune, Freedom and Journal Register reorganizations, is the largest stockholder at Gannett, with a 10.2 percent “passive” investment.)

With all these interrelationships among investors and “distressed” newspaper firms, it’s not hard to see why Dean Singleton might say that achieving some kind of “consolidation” will be a full-time job. Still, it seems unlikely that Singleton will get to pull the strings, when the money behind the interlocking investment structures is controlled by billionaire Randall Smith, Alden’s founder, who built his fortune through investments in junk bonds and distressed properties. Alden acquired most of its newspaper stakes through its Alden Global Distressed Opportunities Fund, which it launched in 2008 and which is now worth nearly $3 billion. Alden has offices in New York, Dallas, Dubai and Mumbai, along with a tax-haven presence on the Channel Island Jersey.

The beginning of the consolidation process is likely to be here in Southern California, with some form of merger between MediaNews Group's Los Angeles Newspaper Group and the Orange County Register, owned by Freedom Communications. But Alden also has a stake in the Tribune Co, which owns the Los Angeles Times. This could lead to a distribution partnership that serves as a basis for mergers in other parts of the country.

Again, Langeveld:

For example, in New England, a combination of MediaNews, Journal Register and Tribune would have properties in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts — totaling about 25 percent of circulation in those states, on a par with the current California partnership. On a countrywide basis, the companies in which Alden appears to have a stake and some degree of influence, as detailed above, have about 15 percent of all circulation and if fully merged, would be about 10 percent bigger than the current champion, Gannett.

Hopefully, we'll see more reporting on Randall Smith, the billionaire owner of Alden, and get a sense of where he wants to go.

MediaNews and Freedom are thinking merger

The shakeup in the MediaNews Group boardroom, led by news that Dean Singleton is stepping down as CEO, isn't just a case of musical chairs. As the Wall Street Journal reports, two of the three new board members named today work for a company that is part owner of Freedom Communications, publisher of the Orange County Register. An insider told WSJ that the company, Alden Global Capital, is thinking merger.

MediaNews owns nine newspapers in Southern California, some of which already have a working relationship with the Register.

But the consolidation plans could go much further. From the WSJ:

MediaNews Group Inc., publisher of more than 50 daily U.S. newspapers including the Denver Post, is eyeing a merger with Freedom Communications Inc. and possibly several other newspaper companies, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

-snip-

The person ... said Alden wants to roll at least some of its various newspaper holdings into a single company. Alden was part of a group of financial firms that emerged last year as the winner of the auction of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. Alden also owns a stake in Journal Register Co., which publishes the New Haven Register among a group of other papers.

The anchorless newscast and other imagineering

Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels has a vision for his bankrupt newspaper and television empire, and it looks a lot like the empires of MediaNews Group and Gannett - meaning a constant focus on findings ways to cut staff (centralizing and shrinking copy and news desks, sharing stories to fill pages or on-air time) and a nearly erotic attachment to the idea of consolidation.

Here are some key quotes from an interview Michaels did with the Wall Street Journal:

"Stories [are] laid out in modules — standard sizes with collections of headlines, content, images [reducing the need for layout and copy editors]. If you pick up the Allentown [Pa.] Morning Call, the foreign news was written in Los Angeles and the national news was written in either Chicago or Washington. It's probably higher quality journalism than a local paper that size is going to be able to afford."

"We are about to launch a TV newscast in Houston that has no anchors, that has great pictures and great writing, but doesn't involve a set or a desk or anyone standing in the way of the picture. Now is it going to work? We're going to find out."


"On the TV side, this is an industry ready to consolidate. I believe my experience in helping people look rationally at opportunities to grow their business by intelligently consolidating regionally will be very helpful."

Mercury News workers to consider austerity contract

The union representing employees at the San Jose Mercury News has negotiated a contract that offers major concessions to save money.

The contract, which will be voted on by secret ballot on Monday, includes a 7-percent pay cut (plus another two percent next year), five days of unpaid furlough, higher health care costs and a reduction in vacation accrual. The contract also allows owner MediaNews Group to consolidate copy desk functions with the company's Bay Area News Group (BANG), which includes the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times.

From the Media Workers Guild:

As you know, it is a difficult period in the newspaper industry and the country. This contract settlement represents our best efforts at protecting workers, jobs and quality at the Mercury News. It is not something that we recommend lightly...

The folks at the SF Weekly aren't too impressed.

Ad mix

LANG today announced several personnel and job title changes that will further consolidate the business operations of the Torrance Daily Breeze, Los Angeles Daily News and Long Beach Press-Telegram - now dubbed LANG's metro division. From the staff story:

"These moves are not only designed to get efficiencies throughout our organization, but to strategically position all three metro division companies with coordinated, cohesive strategies that will drive our sales and circulation efforts," said Edward R. Moss, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.

Huddled mass

Five newspapers in the New Jersey-New York area have agreed to share editorial content. From Editor & Publisher:

“As the Northeast Consortium, our publications will assist each other in gathering news, sports and features materials, giving our readers access to more and expanded content from the top newspapers in each of the respective markets,” Marc Kramer, CEO of the New York Daily News, stated in the release.

I'm sure this is a wise business decision, but it also puts the papers on the slippery slope of consolidation. Doing things together means fewer people doing the work, which usually means layoffs. Less competition means less varied coverage. And, of course, it means more of the same.

All for one

Martin Peers of the Wall Street Journal thinks mass consolidation is needed for newspaper companies to keep bankruptcy at bay:

...The cash deals of recent years saddled many newspaper chains with too much debt, exacerbating today's problems. But the industry is still too fragmented. The biggest publisher, Gannett, accounts for 13.6% of daily circulation. Tribune accounts for 5.3%. Combinations would allow companies to save on corporate overhead and information-technology costs, which account for as much as 6% to 7% of revenues. The latter are particularly important as newspapers ramp up spending to expand their Web sites.

One logical combination is a merger of MediaNews, Freedom and Lee. These companies have geographic overlap in some of their properties, which would allow efficiencies in printing and distribution. MediaNews and Freedom overlap in Southern California -- MediaNews owns the L.A. Daily News while Freedom has the Orange County Register -- and in Colorado.

I'm not sure about Lee, but a Freedom-MediaNews marriage isn't too far fetched. And so what does Peers think should happen with Tribune Co.?

Meanwhile, Tribune could be broken up and its properties combined on a more geographically logical basis. Its Los Angeles Times would fit well with a MediaNews-Freedom-Lee combination, allowing it to dominate Southern California. Its Florida papers might make more sense with McClatchy, which owns the Miami Herald. Regulators might be more accepting of such deals in the current climate.

MediaNews buys the LA Times? You've blown my mind - and the mind of every current and former Singleton reporter who ever harbored a giddy hope that one day the mighty Times would take notice and call you up to the show.