In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.

The newspaper was also a pioneer of broadcast television. Eventually it
became a nationwide chain of newspapers and television broadcast
stations, a television producer, television listing services competing
with TV Guide, and the doomed partnership in The WB failed fifth
network.

Quick review: Trib bought Times-Mirror in 2000, owned by the Chandler
family. Its premiere newspaper was Los Angeles Times, but it also owned
a large number of magazine titles which had seen significant circulation
declines.

Trib was suckered by the Chandler family and massively overpaid. It was
justified on the basis of an aggressive income tax position. Whoops!
After years in court, the government prevailed on the tax position and
the sale price absolutely was not justified.

Trib, which until that point had been a blue-chip company, was bleeding
massive amounts of cash and made itself vulnerable to takeover and had a
series of owners who were simply not committed to news gathering and
reporting.

After bankruptcy, the broadcast properties and television production and
pretty much anything of value would be stripped from the newspapers. The
newspapers lost all land and real estate holdings. Here in Chicago, the
newspaper lost Tribune Tower and the massive 30-acre industrial site
northwest of the Loop at which the newspaper was printed, purchased more
than four decades ago. It replaced the printing plant in the east wing
at the back of Tribune Tower.

Trib Media was the holding company for the valuable properties,
including land and real estate and the broadcast licenses. Nexstar Media
Group acquired Trib Media.

Lots more financial hardship and then a petty sex scandal forced out one
of the new major stockholders, who held close to 1/3 of shares. For
revenge, he sold is shares to Alden Capital Group, a notorious hedge
fund that's been purchasing newspaper carcasses around the country and
publishing with as few writers as possible. Despite being a minority
shareholds, Alden exerted considerable influence and long-time writers
began retiring or accepting buyouts or were simply fired. Alden would
eventually acquire the remainder of the shares.

The newspaper became a tenant at both Tribune Tower and the printing
plant site. It moved out of the Tower and took several floors of office
space in a different office tower in the east Loop. Then, during the
pandemic as they had barely moved in, their new owner Alden Capital
Group, used serious hardball tactics to cancel the lease. There were
tecnically two leases, one for newspaper editorial offices and another
for the newspaper chain's corporate offices. The editorial offices were
moved into the small office building at the printing plant but most
writers are still working from home.

The Trib printing plant is the sole remaining major newspaper printing
plant in Chicago. It's long printed the midwest editions of Wall Street
Journal and New York Times. Long-time subscribers said they used to
prefer getting New York editions of the newspapers that had previously
been flown on cargo flights, because the midwest editions didn't include
local news sections. Chicago Sun-Times, which has bled more cash over
the years than Chicago Tribune thanks to its own series of scandals, in
particular the Conrad Black affair, closed its printing plant and paid
Chicago Tribune to print.

Bally's won the Chicago casino license and chose to acquire the
newspaper printing plant site to build the casino. The deal will soon
close. It'll be a sale-leaseback, so I guess they've got other investors
about to buy the land to lease it back to the casino.

Strangely, despite talk for years that the Trib printing plant site
could become a casino, Chicago Tribune newspaper just extended its lease
of the printing plant with Nexstar for 10 years.

Bally's suggested the newspaper printing plant could remain given how
large the property is, or the lease will be bought out.

But it was also pointed out that Alden could print at the former Milwaukee
Journal-Sentinel printing plant site, now idle, as they just bought it
from Gannet. I have no idea where the Milwaukee newspaper is printed.

The newspaper deadline years ago was moved up several hours, and they
start distributing the newspaper at 3:30 am. There used to be two
editions, the early edition for home delivery and the later edition for
newsstand sales that included sports scores from evening games. It was
literally the "sports final". But they dropped the later edition and the
morning paper has few scores and a lousy sports section.

If the paper is to be printed in Milwaukee, that'll require that the deadline
be moved up yet another 90 minutes.

On 2022-11-10 9:42 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
> newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
>
> The newspaper was also a pioneer of broadcast television. Eventually it
> became a nationwide chain of newspapers and television broadcast
> stations, a television producer, television listing services competing
> with TV Guide, and the doomed partnership in The WB failed fifth
> network.
>
> Quick review: Trib bought Times-Mirror in 2000, owned by the Chandler
> family. Its premiere newspaper was Los Angeles Times, but it also owned
> a large number of magazine titles which had seen significant circulation
> declines.
>
> Trib was suckered by the Chandler family and massively overpaid. It was
> justified on the basis of an aggressive income tax position. Whoops!
> After years in court, the government prevailed on the tax position and
> the sale price absolutely was not justified.
>
> Trib, which until that point had been a blue-chip company, was bleeding
> massive amounts of cash and made itself vulnerable to takeover and had a
> series of owners who were simply not committed to news gathering and
> reporting.
>
> After bankruptcy, the broadcast properties and television production and
> pretty much anything of value would be stripped from the newspapers. The
> newspapers lost all land and real estate holdings. Here in Chicago, the
> newspaper lost Tribune Tower and the massive 30-acre industrial site
> northwest of the Loop at which the newspaper was printed, purchased more
> than four decades ago. It replaced the printing plant in the east wing
> at the back of Tribune Tower.
>
> Trib Media was the holding company for the valuable properties,
> including land and real estate and the broadcast licenses. Nexstar Media
> Group acquired Trib Media.
>
> Lots more financial hardship and then a petty sex scandal forced out one
> of the new major stockholders, who held close to 1/3 of shares. For
> revenge, he sold is shares to Alden Capital Group, a notorious hedge
> fund that's been purchasing newspaper carcasses around the country and
> publishing with as few writers as possible. Despite being a minority
> shareholds, Alden exerted considerable influence and long-time writers
> began retiring or accepting buyouts or were simply fired. Alden would
> eventually acquire the remainder of the shares.
>
> The newspaper became a tenant at both Tribune Tower and the printing
> plant site. It moved out of the Tower and took several floors of office
> space in a different office tower in the east Loop. Then, during the
> pandemic as they had barely moved in, their new owner Alden Capital
> Group, used serious hardball tactics to cancel the lease. There were
> tecnically two leases, one for newspaper editorial offices and another
> for the newspaper chain's corporate offices. The editorial offices were
> moved into the small office building at the printing plant but most
> writers are still working from home.
>
> The Trib printing plant is the sole remaining major newspaper printing
> plant in Chicago. It's long printed the midwest editions of Wall Street
> Journal and New York Times. Long-time subscribers said they used to
> prefer getting New York editions of the newspapers that had previously
> been flown on cargo flights, because the midwest editions didn't include
> local news sections. Chicago Sun-Times, which has bled more cash over
> the years than Chicago Tribune thanks to its own series of scandals, in
> particular the Conrad Black affair, closed its printing plant and paid
> Chicago Tribune to print.
>
> Bally's won the Chicago casino license and chose to acquire the
> newspaper printing plant site to build the casino. The deal will soon
> close. It'll be a sale-leaseback, so I guess they've got other investors
> about to buy the land to lease it back to the casino.
>
> Strangely, despite talk for years that the Trib printing plant site
> could become a casino, Chicago Tribune newspaper just extended its lease
> of the printing plant with Nexstar for 10 years.
>
> Bally's suggested the newspaper printing plant could remain given how
> large the property is, or the lease will be bought out.
>
> But it was also pointed out that Alden could print at the former Milwaukee
> Journal-Sentinel printing plant site, now idle, as they just bought it
> from Gannet. I have no idea where the Milwaukee newspaper is printed.
>
> The newspaper deadline years ago was moved up several hours, and they
> start distributing the newspaper at 3:30 am. There used to be two
> editions, the early edition for home delivery and the later edition for
> newsstand sales that included sports scores from evening games. It was
> literally the "sports final". But they dropped the later edition and the
> morning paper has few scores and a lousy sports section.
>
> If the paper is to be printed in Milwaukee, that'll require that the deadline
> be moved up yet another 90 minutes.

I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
--
Rhino

On 2022-11-10 17:03:37 +0000, Rhino said:

> On 2022-11-10 9:42 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>
>> In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
>> newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
>>
>> The newspaper was also a pioneer of broadcast television. Eventually it
>> became a nationwide chain of newspapers and television broadcast
>> stations, a television producer, television listing services competing
>> with TV Guide, and the doomed partnership in The WB failed fifth
>> network.
>>
>> Quick review: [snip]
>
> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.

The kids all get their "news" now from The Twitter.

--
"Who would ever do this to him!?" - HottCiara on DOOL (04-27-2020), asking
who would stab Victor Kirakis... How about ANYONE WHO'S EVER MET HIM??!!

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

>>. . .

>I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
>your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.

No, Rhino. This was not about print journalism being dead, but Trib
having made a series of business decisions since 1999 that gave
shareholders tremendous payouts but killed the company. Despite lower
readership, the newspapers themselves were still profitable because
Chicago (and elsewhere in the country), the media markets were still
very large.

Trib was never like Gannett, which had purchased a very large number of
titles in very small media markets.

On 2022-11-10 12:55 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>
>>> . . .
>
>> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
>> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
>
> No, Rhino. This was not about print journalism being dead, but Trib
> having made a series of business decisions since 1999 that gave
> shareholders tremendous payouts but killed the company. Despite lower
> readership, the newspapers themselves were still profitable because
> Chicago (and elsewhere in the country), the media markets were still
> very large.
>
No doubt takeovers and buyouts were a major factor, as outlined in the
article you cited.

One of the themes of The Wire, Season 5, was that print media in general
was circling the drain. As you know, the main creator of the series,
David Simon, was a longtime journalist who saw his own paper, the
Baltimore Sun, shrink and shrink and shrink and wrote about it in The
Wire. My impression was that this was case for print media in general. I
had no idea there were still some profitable papers and just assumed
that the Chicago Tribune problems were just another variant of the
problems that had hurt the other papers.

> Trib was never like Gannett, which had purchased a very large number of
> titles in very small media markets.

--
Rhino

Ian J. Ball <IJBall@mac.invalid> wrote:
> On 2022-11-10 17:03:37 +0000, Rhino said:
>
>> On 2022-11-10 9:42 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>>
>>> In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
>>> newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
>>>
>>> The newspaper was also a pioneer of broadcast television. Eventually it
>>> became a nationwide chain of newspapers and television broadcast
>>> stations, a television producer, television listing services competing
>>> with TV Guide, and the doomed partnership in The WB failed fifth
>>> network.
>>>
>>> Quick review: [snip]
>>
>> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
>> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
>
> The kids all get their "news" now from The Twitter.

Or from insipid late night comedians and shows like SNL and THE DAILY SHOW.

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>On 2022-11-10 12:55 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

>>>>. . .

>>>I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
>>>your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.

>>No, Rhino. This was not about print journalism being dead, but Trib
>>having made a series of business decisions since 1999 that gave
>>shareholders tremendous payouts but killed the company. Despite lower
>>readership, the newspapers themselves were still profitable because
>>Chicago (and elsewhere in the country), the media markets were still
>>very large.

>No doubt takeovers and buyouts were a major factor, as outlined in the
>article you cited.

>One of the themes of The Wire, Season 5, was that print media in general
> was circling the drain. As you know, the main creator of the series,
>David Simon, was a longtime journalist who saw his own paper, the
>Baltimore Sun, shrink and shrink and shrink and wrote about it in The
>Wire.

Baltimore Sun was one of those "little papers" that had excellent
foreign reporting. The newspaper was independent till 1986 when it was
purchased by Times-Mirror. The major declines began under Times-Mirror
ownership. It came under Trib ownership with the 2000 merger with
Times-Mirror, and editorial staff layoffs continued. Trib closed the
final foreign bureau in 2008.

Last I heard about the Sun, Alden Capital was willing to sell it to a
local nonprofit funded by a guy whose family made its fortunes in
nursing homes, so you've got to assume he's sleazy.

>My impression was that this was case for print media in general. I
>had no idea there were still some profitable papers and just assumed
>that the Chicago Tribune problems were just another variant of the
>problems that had hurt the other papers.

Trib's most serious problems can be traced to shareholder greed,
starting with the Chandler family and the Times-Mirror buyout, and all
the buyouts and bankrtuptcies sinces. Circulation decline and ad revenue
decline did not hurt Trib as much as old-fashioned shareholder greed
did.

>>Trib was never like Gannett, which had purchased a very large number of
>>titles in very small media markets.

On Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 12:15:35 PM UTC-6, BTR1701 wrote:
> Ian J. Ball <IJB...@mac.invalid> wrote:
> > On 2022-11-10 17:03:37 +0000, Rhino said:
> >
> >> On 2022-11-10 9:42 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> >>>
> >>> In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
> >>> newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
> >>>
> >>> The newspaper was also a pioneer of broadcast television. Eventually it
> >>> became a nationwide chain of newspapers and television broadcast
> >>> stations, a television producer, television listing services competing
> >>> with TV Guide, and the doomed partnership in The WB failed fifth
> >>> network.
> >>>
> >>> Quick review: [snip]
> >>
> >> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
> >> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
> >
> > The kids all get their "news" now from The Twitter.
> Or from insipid late night comedians and shows like SNL and THE DAILY SHOW.

Does Ludmilla in 1703 like either of the bearded Jimmies?

On Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 11:03:43 AM UTC-6, Rhino wrote:
> On 2022-11-10 9:42 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> > In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
> > newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
> >
> > The newspaper was also a pioneer of broadcast television. Eventually it
> > became a nationwide chain of newspapers and television broadcast
> > stations, a television producer, television listing services competing
> > with TV Guide, and the doomed partnership in The WB failed fifth
> > network.
> >
> > Quick review: Trib bought Times-Mirror in 2000, owned by the Chandler
> > family. Its premiere newspaper was Los Angeles Times, but it also owned
> > a large number of magazine titles which had seen significant circulation
> > declines.
> >
> > Trib was suckered by the Chandler family and massively overpaid. It was
> > justified on the basis of an aggressive income tax position. Whoops!
> > After years in court, the government prevailed on the tax position and
> > the sale price absolutely was not justified.
> >
> > Trib, which until that point had been a blue-chip company, was bleeding
> > massive amounts of cash and made itself vulnerable to takeover and had a
> > series of owners who were simply not committed to news gathering and
> > reporting.
> >
> > After bankruptcy, the broadcast properties and television production and
> > pretty much anything of value would be stripped from the newspapers. The
> > newspapers lost all land and real estate holdings. Here in Chicago, the
> > newspaper lost Tribune Tower and the massive 30-acre industrial site
> > northwest of the Loop at which the newspaper was printed, purchased more
> > than four decades ago. It replaced the printing plant in the east wing
> > at the back of Tribune Tower.
> >
> > Trib Media was the holding company for the valuable properties,
> > including land and real estate and the broadcast licenses. Nexstar Media
> > Group acquired Trib Media.
> >
> > Lots more financial hardship and then a petty sex scandal forced out one
> > of the new major stockholders, who held close to 1/3 of shares. For
> > revenge, he sold is shares to Alden Capital Group, a notorious hedge
> > fund that's been purchasing newspaper carcasses around the country and
> > publishing with as few writers as possible. Despite being a minority
> > shareholds, Alden exerted considerable influence and long-time writers
> > began retiring or accepting buyouts or were simply fired. Alden would
> > eventually acquire the remainder of the shares.
> >
> > The newspaper became a tenant at both Tribune Tower and the printing
> > plant site. It moved out of the Tower and took several floors of office
> > space in a different office tower in the east Loop. Then, during the
> > pandemic as they had barely moved in, their new owner Alden Capital
> > Group, used serious hardball tactics to cancel the lease. There were
> > tecnically two leases, one for newspaper editorial offices and another
> > for the newspaper chain's corporate offices. The editorial offices were
> > moved into the small office building at the printing plant but most
> > writers are still working from home.
> >
> > The Trib printing plant is the sole remaining major newspaper printing
> > plant in Chicago. It's long printed the midwest editions of Wall Street
> > Journal and New York Times. Long-time subscribers said they used to
> > prefer getting New York editions of the newspapers that had previously
> > been flown on cargo flights, because the midwest editions didn't include
> > local news sections. Chicago Sun-Times, which has bled more cash over
> > the years than Chicago Tribune thanks to its own series of scandals, in
> > particular the Conrad Black affair, closed its printing plant and paid
> > Chicago Tribune to print.
> >
> > Bally's won the Chicago casino license and chose to acquire the
> > newspaper printing plant site to build the casino. The deal will soon
> > close. It'll be a sale-leaseback, so I guess they've got other investors
> > about to buy the land to lease it back to the casino.
> >
> > Strangely, despite talk for years that the Trib printing plant site
> > could become a casino, Chicago Tribune newspaper just extended its lease
> > of the printing plant with Nexstar for 10 years.
> >
> > Bally's suggested the newspaper printing plant could remain given how
> > large the property is, or the lease will be bought out.
> >
> > But it was also pointed out that Alden could print at the former Milwaukee
> > Journal-Sentinel printing plant site, now idle, as they just bought it
> > from Gannet. I have no idea where the Milwaukee newspaper is printed.
> >
> > The newspaper deadline years ago was moved up several hours, and they
> > start distributing the newspaper at 3:30 am. There used to be two
> > editions, the early edition for home delivery and the later edition for
> > newsstand sales that included sports scores from evening games. It was
> > literally the "sports final". But they dropped the later edition and the
> > morning paper has few scores and a lousy sports section.
> >
> > If the paper is to be printed in Milwaukee, that'll require that the deadline
> > be moved up yet another 90 minutes.
> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
> --
> Rhino

The temporary casino is starting in the old Shriners Medinah Temple.
I'll go only if they have a Bellagio Fountain show and the dealers wear Fezes.

On 2022-11-10 2:29 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>> On 2022-11-10 12:55 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>
>>>>> . . .
>
>>>> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
>>>> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
>
>>> No, Rhino. This was not about print journalism being dead, but Trib
>>> having made a series of business decisions since 1999 that gave
>>> shareholders tremendous payouts but killed the company. Despite lower
>>> readership, the newspapers themselves were still profitable because
>>> Chicago (and elsewhere in the country), the media markets were still
>>> very large.
>
>> No doubt takeovers and buyouts were a major factor, as outlined in the
>> article you cited.
>
>> One of the themes of The Wire, Season 5, was that print media in general
>> was circling the drain. As you know, the main creator of the series,
>> David Simon, was a longtime journalist who saw his own paper, the
>> Baltimore Sun, shrink and shrink and shrink and wrote about it in The
>> Wire.
>
> Baltimore Sun was one of those "little papers" that had excellent
> foreign reporting. The newspaper was independent till 1986 when it was
> purchased by Times-Mirror. The major declines began under Times-Mirror
> ownership. It came under Trib ownership with the 2000 merger with
> Times-Mirror, and editorial staff layoffs continued. Trib closed the
> final foreign bureau in 2008.
>
> Last I heard about the Sun, Alden Capital was willing to sell it to a
> local nonprofit funded by a guy whose family made its fortunes in
> nursing homes, so you've got to assume he's sleazy.
>
>> My impression was that this was case for print media in general. I
>> had no idea there were still some profitable papers and just assumed
>> that the Chicago Tribune problems were just another variant of the
>> problems that had hurt the other papers.
>
> Trib's most serious problems can be traced to shareholder greed,
> starting with the Chandler family and the Times-Mirror buyout, and all
> the buyouts and bankrtuptcies sinces. Circulation decline and ad revenue
> decline did not hurt Trib as much as old-fashioned shareholder greed
> did.
>
Now do all the other papers that seem to be pale shadows of their former
selves if they haven't tanked altogether....

>>> Trib was never like Gannett, which had purchased a very large number of
>>> titles in very small media markets.

--
Rhino

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>On 2022-11-10 2:29 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>>> On 2022-11-10 12:55 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>>> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>>
>>>>>> . . .
>>
>>>>> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
>>>>> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
>>
>>>> No, Rhino. This was not about print journalism being dead, but Trib
>>>> having made a series of business decisions since 1999 that gave
>>>> shareholders tremendous payouts but killed the company. Despite lower
>>>> readership, the newspapers themselves were still profitable because
>>>> Chicago (and elsewhere in the country), the media markets were still
>>>> very large.
>>
>>> No doubt takeovers and buyouts were a major factor, as outlined in the
>>> article you cited.
>>
>>> One of the themes of The Wire, Season 5, was that print media in general
>>> was circling the drain. As you know, the main creator of the series,
>>> David Simon, was a longtime journalist who saw his own paper, the
>>> Baltimore Sun, shrink and shrink and shrink and wrote about it in The
>>> Wire.
>>
>> Baltimore Sun was one of those "little papers" that had excellent
>> foreign reporting. The newspaper was independent till 1986 when it was
>> purchased by Times-Mirror. The major declines began under Times-Mirror
>> ownership. It came under Trib ownership with the 2000 merger with
>> Times-Mirror, and editorial staff layoffs continued. Trib closed the
>> final foreign bureau in 2008.
>>
>> Last I heard about the Sun, Alden Capital was willing to sell it to a
>> local nonprofit funded by a guy whose family made its fortunes in
>> nursing homes, so you've got to assume he's sleazy.
>>
>>> My impression was that this was case for print media in general. I
>>> had no idea there were still some profitable papers and just assumed
>>> that the Chicago Tribune problems were just another variant of the
>>> problems that had hurt the other papers.
>>
>> Trib's most serious problems can be traced to shareholder greed,
>> starting with the Chandler family and the Times-Mirror buyout, and all
>> the buyouts and bankrtuptcies sinces. Circulation decline and ad revenue
>> decline did not hurt Trib as much as old-fashioned shareholder greed
>> did.
>>
>Now do all the other papers that seem to be pale shadows of their former
>selves if they haven't tanked altogether....

I didn't see the effects of their business decisions play out first hand,
so I couldn't tell you. I can tell you that the Los Angeles Times didn't
thrive under Tribune ownership and BTR1701 thinks it sucks right now.

Los Angeles Tribune went under in 1982.

As far as I know, the Toronto Globe and Mail and the London papers are strong
enough due to large remaining circulation.

>>>>Trib was never like Gannett, which had purchased a very large number of
>>>>titles in very small media markets.

In <tkju6k$kmif$1@dont-email.me> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> writes:

[snip]

>Los Angeles Tribune went under in 1982.

Not quite. The publisher kept it going a but and only kicked the bucket
back in June, 2000 ...

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>> On 2022-11-10 2:29 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>>>> On 2022-11-10 12:55 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>>>> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>>>> . . .
>>>
>>>>>> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
>>>>>> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
>>>
>>>>> No, Rhino. This was not about print journalism being dead, but Trib
>>>>> having made a series of business decisions since 1999 that gave
>>>>> shareholders tremendous payouts but killed the company. Despite lower
>>>>> readership, the newspapers themselves were still profitable because
>>>>> Chicago (and elsewhere in the country), the media markets were still
>>>>> very large.
>>>
>>>> No doubt takeovers and buyouts were a major factor, as outlined in the
>>>> article you cited.
>>>
>>>> One of the themes of The Wire, Season 5, was that print media in general
>>>> was circling the drain. As you know, the main creator of the series,
>>>> David Simon, was a longtime journalist who saw his own paper, the
>>>> Baltimore Sun, shrink and shrink and shrink and wrote about it in The
>>>> Wire.
>>>
>>> Baltimore Sun was one of those "little papers" that had excellent
>>> foreign reporting. The newspaper was independent till 1986 when it was
>>> purchased by Times-Mirror. The major declines began under Times-Mirror
>>> ownership. It came under Trib ownership with the 2000 merger with
>>> Times-Mirror, and editorial staff layoffs continued. Trib closed the
>>> final foreign bureau in 2008.
>>>
>>> Last I heard about the Sun, Alden Capital was willing to sell it to a
>>> local nonprofit funded by a guy whose family made its fortunes in
>>> nursing homes, so you've got to assume he's sleazy.
>>>
>>>> My impression was that this was case for print media in general. I
>>>> had no idea there were still some profitable papers and just assumed
>>>> that the Chicago Tribune problems were just another variant of the
>>>> problems that had hurt the other papers.
>>>
>>> Trib's most serious problems can be traced to shareholder greed,
>>> starting with the Chandler family and the Times-Mirror buyout, and all
>>> the buyouts and bankrtuptcies sinces. Circulation decline and ad revenue
>>> decline did not hurt Trib as much as old-fashioned shareholder greed
>>> did.
>>>
>> Now do all the other papers that seem to be pale shadows of their former
>> selves if they haven't tanked altogether....
>
> I didn't see the effects of their business decisions play out first hand,
> so I couldn't tell you. I can tell you that the Los Angeles Times didn't
> thrive under Tribune ownership and BTR1701 thinks it sucks right now.

It doesn't just suck, it's proactively evil.

On Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 4:47:26 PM UTC-6, BTR1701 wrote:
> Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com> wrote:
> > Rhino <no_offlin...@example.com> wrote:
> >> On 2022-11-10 2:29 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> >>> Rhino <no_offlin...@example.com> wrote:
> >>>> On 2022-11-10 12:55 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> >>>>> Rhino <no_offlin...@example.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>>>> . . .
> >>>
> >>>>>> I'm inclined to summarize all this as: print journalism is dead; get
> >>>>>> your news online or on TV or do without news altogether.
> >>>
> >>>>> No, Rhino. This was not about print journalism being dead, but Trib
> >>>>> having made a series of business decisions since 1999 that gave
> >>>>> shareholders tremendous payouts but killed the company. Despite lower
> >>>>> readership, the newspapers themselves were still profitable because
> >>>>> Chicago (and elsewhere in the country), the media markets were still
> >>>>> very large.
> >>>
> >>>> No doubt takeovers and buyouts were a major factor, as outlined in the
> >>>> article you cited.
> >>>
> >>>> One of the themes of The Wire, Season 5, was that print media in general
> >>>> was circling the drain. As you know, the main creator of the series,
> >>>> David Simon, was a longtime journalist who saw his own paper, the
> >>>> Baltimore Sun, shrink and shrink and shrink and wrote about it in The
> >>>> Wire.
> >>>
> >>> Baltimore Sun was one of those "little papers" that had excellent
> >>> foreign reporting. The newspaper was independent till 1986 when it was
> >>> purchased by Times-Mirror. The major declines began under Times-Mirror
> >>> ownership. It came under Trib ownership with the 2000 merger with
> >>> Times-Mirror, and editorial staff layoffs continued. Trib closed the
> >>> final foreign bureau in 2008.
> >>>
> >>> Last I heard about the Sun, Alden Capital was willing to sell it to a
> >>> local nonprofit funded by a guy whose family made its fortunes in
> >>> nursing homes, so you've got to assume he's sleazy.
> >>>
> >>>> My impression was that this was case for print media in general. I
> >>>> had no idea there were still some profitable papers and just assumed
> >>>> that the Chicago Tribune problems were just another variant of the
> >>>> problems that had hurt the other papers.
> >>>
> >>> Trib's most serious problems can be traced to shareholder greed,
> >>> starting with the Chandler family and the Times-Mirror buyout, and all
> >>> the buyouts and bankrtuptcies sinces. Circulation decline and ad revenue
> >>> decline did not hurt Trib as much as old-fashioned shareholder greed
> >>> did.
> >>>
> >> Now do all the other papers that seem to be pale shadows of their former
> >> selves if they haven't tanked altogether....
> >
> > I didn't see the effects of their business decisions play out first hand,
> > so I couldn't tell you. I can tell you that the Los Angeles Times didn't
> > thrive under Tribune ownership and BTR1701 thinks it sucks right now.
> It doesn't just suck, it's proactively evil.

Yup, reporting on a yagoff LA Sheriff is satanic.

On Thu, 10 Nov 2022 22:32:52 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>As far as I know, the Toronto Globe and Mail and the London papers are strong
>enough due to large remaining circulation.

Toronto has a very strange media market in that it sort of has 3
papers but the Toronto Star is the only one that sticks to the Greater
Toronto area. The Global and Mail and the National Post both have
national aspirations and are as much financial newspapers as anything
else.

While you might well expect either to score a business sector "scoop"
neither is particularly distinguished in their Ottawa coverage.
Or for that matter anything politically related (other than economic
stories) involving the Canadian federal government or that of any of
the provinces though of late there has been a LOT of coverage into the
federal inquiry into last Jan/Feb trucker's protest which was
primarily in Ottawa but involved Detroit/Windsor (though NOT the 2nd
or 3rd biggest border crossings in Vancouver and Montreal) border
crossing which is primarily about the steel and automotive industries.

Justin Trudeau has tried to paint the truckers' protest in the US
January 6th type of protest and invoked national emergency legislation
with dubious reason. This is the Act that replaced the old War
Measures Act which was most recently used during the 1970 October
Crisis (which was primarily a Montreal crisis)

The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
>Thu, 10 Nov 2022 22:32:52 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>:

>>As far as I know, the Toronto Globe and Mail and the London papers are strong
>>enough due to large remaining circulation.

>Toronto has a very strange media market in that it sort of has 3
>papers but the Toronto Star is the only one that sticks to the Greater
>Toronto area. The Global and Mail and the National Post both have
>national aspirations and are as much financial newspapers as anything
>else.

>While you might well expect either to score a business sector "scoop"
>neither is particularly distinguished in their Ottawa coverage.
>Or for that matter anything politically related (other than economic
>stories) involving the Canadian federal government or that of any of
>the provinces though of late there has been a LOT of coverage into the
>federal inquiry into last Jan/Feb trucker's protest which was
>primarily in Ottawa but involved Detroit/Windsor (though NOT the 2nd
>or 3rd biggest border crossings in Vancouver and Montreal) border
>crossing which is primarily about the steel and automotive industries.

Thanks

>Justin Trudeau has tried to paint the truckers' protest in the US
>January 6th type of protest and invoked national emergency legislation
>with dubious reason. This is the Act that replaced the old War
>Measures Act which was most recently used during the 1970 October
>Crisis (which was primarily a Montreal crisis)

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
>newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.

>. . .

Bally's completed the purchase of the Chicago Tribune printing plant
site Friday 11/18/2022 for $200 million. The newspaper recently extended
its lease till June 2033. Nexstar owned the 30-acre site.

It's a strange lease as Ballys has the ability to force the newspaper to
vacate. It's possible Bally's would build around the printing plant.

Bally's intends to sell the site to investors, then lease it back to
develop a casino.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-buys-freedom-center-site-chicago-casino-20221119-adq4t6k5o5efdejc527gtq36l4-story.html

On 2022-11-19 21:12:47 +0000, Adam H. Kerman said:

> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
>> In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
>> newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
>
>> . . .
>
> Bally's completed the purchase of the Chicago Tribune printing plant
> site Friday 11/18/2022 for $200 million. The newspaper recently extended
> its lease till June 2033. Nexstar owned the 30-acre site.
>
> It's a strange lease as Ballys has the ability to force the newspaper to
> vacate. It's possible Bally's would build around the printing plant.
>
> Bally's intends to sell the site to investors, then lease it back to
> develop a casino.
>
> https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-buys-freedom-center-site-chicago-casino-20221119-adq4t6k5o5efdejc527gtq36l4-story.html
>

Ballys should do that to all of Chicago! - Just evict everybody, demo
it, and replace it with a casino!!

--
"Who would ever do this to him!?" - HottCiara on DOOL (04-27-2020), asking
who would stab Victor Kirakis... How about ANYONE WHO'S EVER MET HIM??!!

Ian J. Ball <IJBall@mac.invalid> wrote:
>On 2022-11-19 21:12:47 +0000, Adam H. Kerman said:
>>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>>>In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
>>>newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.

>>>. . .

>>Bally's completed the purchase of the Chicago Tribune printing plant
>>site Friday 11/18/2022 for $200 million. The newspaper recently extended
>>its lease till June 2033. Nexstar owned the 30-acre site.

>>It's a strange lease as Ballys has the ability to force the newspaper to
>>vacate. It's possible Bally's would build around the printing plant.

>>Bally's intends to sell the site to investors, then lease it back to
>>develop a casino.

>>https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-buys-freedom-center-site-chicago-casino-20221119-adq4t6k5o5efdejc527gtq36l4-story.html

>Ballys should do that to all of Chicago! - Just evict everybody, demo
>it, and replace it with a casino!!

Chicagoist!

In <tlbo07$3ai77$5@dont-email.me> "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> writes:

[snip]
>>>Bally's intends to sell the site to investors, then lease it back to
>>>develop a casino.

>>>https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-buys-freedom-center-site-chicago-casino-20221119-adq4t6k5o5efdejc527gtq36l4-story.html

>>Ballys should do that to all of Chicago! - Just evict everybody, demo
>>it, and replace it with a casino!!

>Chicagoist!

Block Club Chicago!

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>>In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
>>newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.

>>. . .

>Bally's completed the purchase of the Chicago Tribune printing plant
>site Friday 11/18/2022 for $200 million. The newspaper recently extended
>its lease till June 2033. Nexstar owned the 30-acre site.

>It's a strange lease as Ballys has the ability to force the newspaper to
>vacate. It's possible Bally's would build around the printing plant.

>Bally's intends to sell the site to investors, then lease it back to
>develop a casino.

>https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-buys-freedom-center-site-chicago-casino-20221119-adq4t6k5o5efdejc527gtq36l4-story.html

As expected, Bally's gave Trib notice to vacate the plant. They've got
two years but maybe Bally's would help with financing at a new location,
plus Alden owns the closed Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel press building, so
maybe they'd move there.

In a strange turn of events, Bally's claims they had an architect think
about incorporating the newspaper printing plant into a tourist thing,
exposing the press operation to the public under glass or something, but
they claim city of Chicago rejected the idea. Lori Lightfoot couldn't be
reached for comment.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-to-relocate-tribune-publishing-printing-plant-20230213-tkfwarfq3ndm5ow6dz3zvt53ba-story.html

In article <tsf8fd$2eduo$1@dont-email.me>,
"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> >Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
> >>In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
> >>newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
>
> >>. . .
>
> >Bally's completed the purchase of the Chicago Tribune printing plant
> >site Friday 11/18/2022 for $200 million. The newspaper recently extended
> >its lease till June 2033. Nexstar owned the 30-acre site.
>
> >It's a strange lease as Ballys has the ability to force the newspaper to
> >vacate. It's possible Bally's would build around the printing plant.
>
> >Bally's intends to sell the site to investors, then lease it back to
> >develop a casino.
>
> >https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-buys-freedom-center-
> >site-chicago-casino-20221119-adq4t6k5o5efdejc527gtq36l4-story.html
>
> As expected, Bally's gave Trib notice to vacate the plant. They've got
> two years but maybe Bally's would help with financing at a new location,
> plus Alden owns the closed Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel press building, so
> maybe they'd move there.
>
> In a strange turn of events, Bally's claims they had an architect think
> about incorporating the newspaper printing plant into a tourist thing,
> exposing the press operation to the public under glass or something, but
> they claim city of Chicago rejected the idea. Lori Lightfoot couldn't be
> reached for comment.
>
> https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-to-relocate-tribune-publ
> ishing-printing-plant-20230213-tkfwarfq3ndm5ow6dz3zvt53ba-story.html

I think print editions of newspapers are all going to go the way of the
Dodo bird sooner or later, maybe the NYT and Washington Post will hang
on no matter what.

I was subscribing to the print version of my small local paper for a
while last year and some of the pages would often have big blobs of ink
on them or otherwise be faded and unreadable, it costs a lot of money to
keep the presses going and get qualified people to run them.

On Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 12:07:46 AM UTC-6, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com> wrote:
> >Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com> wrote:
>
> >>In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
> >>newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
>
> >>. . .
>
> >Bally's completed the purchase of the Chicago Tribune printing plant
> >site Friday 11/18/2022 for $200 million. The newspaper recently extended
> >its lease till June 2033. Nexstar owned the 30-acre site.
>
> >It's a strange lease as Ballys has the ability to force the newspaper to
> >vacate. It's possible Bally's would build around the printing plant.
>
> >Bally's intends to sell the site to investors, then lease it back to
> >develop a casino.
>
> >https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-buys-freedom-center-site-chicago-casino-20221119-adq4t6k5o5efdejc527gtq36l4-story.html
> As expected, Bally's gave Trib notice to vacate the plant. They've got
> two years but maybe Bally's would help with financing at a new location,
> plus Alden owns the closed Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel press building, so
> maybe they'd move there.
>
> In a strange turn of events, Bally's claims they had an architect think
> about incorporating the newspaper printing plant into a tourist thing,
> exposing the press operation to the public under glass or something, but
> they claim city of Chicago rejected the idea. Lori Lightfoot couldn't be
> reached for comment.
>
> https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-to-relocate-tribune-publishing-printing-plant-20230213-tkfwarfq3ndm5ow6dz3zvt53ba-story.html

The Medinah dealers should wear fezes.

On 2/14/23 5:42 PM, Bering Sea Bar & Brig wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 12:07:46 AM UTC-6, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>> Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com> wrote:
>>> Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> In the continuing humiliation of the remnant of Chicago Tribune, the famous
>>>> newspaper is about to lose its printing plant.
>>
>>>> . . .
>>
>>> Bally's completed the purchase of the Chicago Tribune printing plant
>>> site Friday 11/18/2022 for $200 million. The newspaper recently extended
>>> its lease till June 2033. Nexstar owned the 30-acre site.
>>
>>> It's a strange lease as Ballys has the ability to force the newspaper to
>>> vacate. It's possible Bally's would build around the printing plant.
>>
>>> Bally's intends to sell the site to investors, then lease it back to
>>> develop a casino.
>>
>>> https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-buys-freedom-center-site-chicago-casino-20221119-adq4t6k5o5efdejc527gtq36l4-story.html
>> As expected, Bally's gave Trib notice to vacate the plant. They've got
>> two years but maybe Bally's would help with financing at a new location,
>> plus Alden owns the closed Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel press building, so
>> maybe they'd move there.
>>
>> In a strange turn of events, Bally's claims they had an architect think
>> about incorporating the newspaper printing plant into a tourist thing,
>> exposing the press operation to the public under glass or something, but
>> they claim city of Chicago rejected the idea. Lori Lightfoot couldn't be
>> reached for comment.
>>
>> https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-ballys-to-relocate-tribune-publishing-printing-plant-20230213-tkfwarfq3ndm5ow6dz3zvt53ba-story.html
>
> The Medinah dealers should wear fezes.

Everybody should.