Boston Herald publisher announces sale of newspaper company

[Blue_Adept]

Boston Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell announced today that the media company with its flagship Boston Herald tabloid has reached an agreement with GateHouse Media, LLC for them to acquire the company's operational assets. The purchase is subject to court approval.

The announcement came this afternoon as Purcell gathered management and staff in the Herald newspaper's offices on Fargo Street in Boston's Seaport District. He spoke first with his long-time management team and immediately following with staff from across all departments.

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2017/12/boston_herald_publisher_announces_sale_of_newspaper_company

[Angry Dragon]

1. went surfing

http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/02/newsonomics-softbank-fortress-trump-and-the-real-story-of-gatehouses-boundless-ambition/

It looked like head-turning news: A Japanese company had taken control of one of America’s largest newspaper chains, New Media Investment Group, a.k.a. GateHouse Media. Tuesday’s headline: “Robotics and tech firm SoftBank Japan purchases newspaper company GateHouse Media”. As Softbank’s acquisition of New York City-based Fortress Investment Group was announced last week, it appeared, on the surface, as if the direction of more than 100 U.S. dailies would be in the hands of non-Americans.

Plus, as feels universally true in these bewildering times, there appeared to even be a link to Donald Trump. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son had been one of the first chief executives to make the trek to Trump Tower in December, to pay fealty to the incoming president. His supposed promise, accompanied by the firm Trump hand on Son’s shoulder: $50 billion in U.S. investment, aiming to create 50,000 jobs. saying “The U.S. will become great again,” Son offered.

It was a great conspiracy theory in the making: A newspaper company able to influence hundreds of thousands of voters falling into the grasp of both Trump and “foreigners.” Of course, GateHouse had left itself open to this sort of speculation with its own big ethical stumble still in the industry’s memory. Was it only a year ago that we were consumed with the soap opera of billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s secretive purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal from GateHouse? Through that sordid journalistic adventure, GateHouse’s top executives okayed an Adelson-friendly “investigative review” of judges unfriendly to Adelson — just as the sale was in progress. GateHouse made a huge profit on that sale, and has since moved on, making some moves to clean up its house, and pointing to the work its journalists still manage to produce.

[woodsprite]

2. Gatehouse and Adelson?

https://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/02/with-gatehouse-newspaper-chain-on-the-hot-seat-ceo-mike-reed-responds-004381

[BannonsLiver]

3. Gatehouse is a terrible company

If you wonder where all the copy editing (and layout jobs) go in the newspaper and magazine business this is where they are going. Many subscribers to newspapers would be surprised to know that the content of their local newspaper is sent electronically to Gatehouse HQ in Austin where it is "copy edited" and laid out for print. It is an assembly line, sweat shop operation.

Newspapers have figured out copy editors are an easy trim because they can simply go to vendors like Gatehouse and not have to pay employee benefits etc. I hear Gatehouse also pays poorly itself.