EDITORIAL

A major shift in local media

Posted 7/24/14

Rhode Island this week learned of a seismic shift in local media. The Providence Journal, the state’s 185-year-old paper of record, will be sold to New Media Investment Group Inc., the parent …

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EDITORIAL

A major shift in local media

Posted

Rhode Island this week learned of a seismic shift in local media. The Providence Journal, the state’s 185-year-old paper of record, will be sold to New Media Investment Group Inc., the parent company of GateHouse Media, for $46 million. The deal includes the newspaper and its print facilities on Kinsley Avenue, but not the paper’s historic Fountain Street headquarters, which current owner A.H. Belo Corp. will apparently lease to the news ownership for one year as efforts to sell the building continue.

The full implications are not immediately clear. The Journal becomes the largest of New Media’s holdings in the region, joining a portfolio that includes the Fall River Herald News, New Bedford Standard-Times and Cape Cod Times. The new ownership’s full vision for the publication – and its plans for a workforce that has already seen drastic cuts in recent years – remains to be seen.

For most Rhode Island observers, news of the sale is likely to be viewed with apprehension. The hope among many was that a local buyer or group would be able to purchase the Journal, which serves an essential civic purpose as the state’s largest media outlet.

Other large newspaper acquisitions in the area have had mixed results for newsrooms and readers. Boston Red Sox owner John Henry’s purchase of the Boston Globe raised some eyebrows over potential editorial conflicts, but the transaction nonetheless kept the paper locally owned – and in the hands of a party wealthy enough to be patient and pursue innovative strategies.

On the other side of the coin is the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which Henry acquired along with the Globe but later sold to Florida-based Halifax Media. That company’s first move upon buying the paper was to cut newsroom staff by 25 percent.

The Journal’s position is clearly much stronger than the Telegram & Gazette’s. The Providence paper remains profitable, and its printing facility is a significant asset for new ownership. Its sale price is roughly double that of the Worcester paper, although exponentially lower than the $1.5 billion Belo paid for the Journal and other properties in 1997.

New Media and GateHouse clearly see the Journal as an integral part of their business moving ahead. Will that translate into the kind of investments needed to keep the paper vital? Or will the decision-making, both long- and short-term, be focused more squarely on the bottom line?

Digital outlets and smaller newspapers such as ours could view news of the sale as a major opportunity. The Journal’s presence in the state’s various communities has declined in recent years, and it is certainly possible – perhaps even likely – that the new ownership will not reverse that trend. In a competitive environment, that provides an opening for other outlets.

We would have much preferred, though, to see the Journal back in local hands. At the core of our shared endeavor as journalists is the sharing of stories and ideas, and the enduring belief that bringing a diverse array of perspectives, voices and information to the table makes our communities stronger. News is a business, but the ideal we strive toward is something more.

The sale of the Journal does not mean that it will cease to produce quality work, nor will it lose its position as a driving force in civic discourse.

But it does mean the paper’s future will, in the end, be defined less by its interest in serving Rhode Island and more by the financial imperatives of its parent company. For now, we wait to see the degree to which those objectives intersect.

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