Monday, November 25, 2019

Gannett-GateHouse merger spawns analysis and comment

A lot of ink has been spilled over the newly approved merger of GateHouse Media into the new Gannett Co. Inc. Here's a roundup of some interesting articles, op-eds, editorials, and general think pieces on the topic.

The company's estimates of annual cost savings from the merger have increased from about $200 million in July to upwards of $400 billion. Ken Doctor at Harvard University's NiemanLab talks about what those cutbacks could look like in local newsrooms. Read more here.

The merger could deepen America's local news crisis, writes Clara Hendrickson for the Brookings Institution. Read more here.

Marc Tracy of The New York Times gives the nuts and bolts of the merger and a decent overview of the major questions surrounding it. Read more here.

Don Seiffert of the Boston Business Journal ominously notes that more than 80 percent of the 200 dailies in the company are losing circulation faster than the national average, and 10% are declining at twice that rate or faster. Those papers could be first in line for cuts, he speculates. Read more here.

The merger is a good thing because it's a cost-effective way to keep local news alive, writes the editorial board for The Record in Stockton, California. Read more here.

Publisher James Bennett of The Daily Herald in Columbia, Tennessee, near Gannett-dominated Nashville, tries to reassure readers that the paper's focus will remain local, even though the former GateHouse paper is now owned by Gannett. He says readers will benefit from having access to Gannett content. Read more here.

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