Posted on 03/20/2006 5:45:31 PM PST by Uncledave
Newspaper staff hopes to buy ex-Knight Ridder papers
Mon Mar 20, 2:47 PM ET
Workers from 12 newspapers that are being sold by McClatchy Co. (NYSE:MNI - news) are pressing ahead with efforts to acquire the papers, which include The Philadelphia Inquirer and San Jose Mercury News, union representatives said on Monday.
The newspapers were part of McClatchy Co.'s $4.5 billion deal earlier this month to buy Knight Ridder Inc. (NYSE:KRI - news). To help finance the deal, McClatchy is selling 12 of the 32 Knight Ridder daily newspapers it acquired.
Union representatives from those papers on Monday released a statement that said workers had an "unprecedented opportunity to have a direct voice" in outcome of the sale by joining with buyout firm The Yucaipa Companies to create an employee-owned company.
"Employee-ownership offers us a chance to create a place where employees want to work and invest," said the statement from the Newspaper Guild-CWA. The statement was adopted during a meeting on March 18.
It added that "a partnership with The Yucaipa Companies will allow us to reach our greatest potential as an innovative media company" and said it was working with Yucaipa "to buy and improve" the papers.
Yucaipa is a Los Angeles -based investment firm owned by billionaire grocery magnate Ron Burkle.
The union and Yucaipa teamed up in February to consider the purchase of some of the Knight Ridder papers.
Besides interest from employees, the papers are also expected to catch the attention of private equity groups and other publishers.
A Union Management Team trying to manage union members. Now thats classic.
I must get at least one call a week from both the Mercury News and the SF Chronicle, asking me to accept their papers.
I always tell them that I would be ashamed and embarrassed to have their blatantly anti-American, leftist screed show up on my doorstep, where it could contaminate any innocent young mind that might see it there.
I will therefore continue to vote against their hate speech, their lies, and most importantly their politically calculated omissions and distortions, with my wallet.
I must not be alone, since both of those rags are in increasingly obvious financial "Circling the Drain" mode.
And somehow, I don't see how employee ownership would change the flavor much... Especially since some of those employees have expressed to me that they thought they were losing readership due to not being liberal enough.
Yucaipa is run by Bill Clinton's fellow travellers in elite Democrat circles, if this deal is made, Bill Clinton and his inner cadre will control 12 major newspapers in the country.
http://independentsources.com/2006/01/30/ill-give-you-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-if-you-give-me-the-governorship/
About the only conservative newspaper I know of and it is not too conservative is the The Christian Science Monitor. It begs the questions..is the newsprint media dying due to liberalism..or the newsprint just outdated. I would guess the latter. Would a good ol' fashioned conservative newspaper still be able to survive in this internet age? Demographics aside.
Sure, why not. The breaking-news aspect is losing ground to the web, but there's always a market for good reporting and analysis, which the dinosaurs aren't providing. Millions of public transport commuters will use papers, just as car commuters use radio
Good magazines still have a market in the Internet age. Why shouldn't good newspapers?
Thanks for your answer...I would hazard the same guess. Sure why not? Then, why are there not more of them being published? I kinda miss having a daily newspaper to read. Something about the feel of paper, ink on the hands, the comics, ed/op page, even the want ads...you get the idea. I love ebooks...but every once in awhile I just love to open a new book, inhale the scent of a new book and feel it in my hands. I'll stop new. :)
I got an idea! Let's put on a play!
Print is dead.
Re-Arranging the deck chairs.
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