Speculation thus turns to whether the Enterprise operation — including the Ledger, the Enterprise, the MPG papers, and a new Web site called “Wicked Local” — might be more of a target for potential savings.
If the new owners do look to trim costs and resources further, one knowledgeable media analyst suggests that the company’s lack of local history may make it psychologically easier to do so.
“As out-of-town owners, they will be a bit less sensitive to whining from local communities that lose their own papers,” he says. “Pat [Purcell] had to be very sensitive to anything like that, because he was a major player in the Boston metro area.”
The Herald Lives
According to one staffer who attended, Purcell spoke to the Herald newsroom on Monday afternoon and vowed that he was in it for the long haul. At the same time, he seemed to be still debating what direction to take, soliciting staff suggestions, indicating that he has examined a number of business models, and suggesting that the flagging Sunday paper was being looked at.
Purcell’s remarks were “upbeat, but a little scary,” says the staffer. “If there’s a plan, it wasn’t evident.”
Saturday’s Herald story on the sale quoted Purcell saying the tabloid would emerge debt free from the deal. He also said he had reached agreement with the Liberty/GateHouse group to continue cross-selling and cross-promotional agreements between the Herald and the CNC papers, and to maintain the sharing of editorial content — all of which could help keep the Herald afloat (as well as enhance the Liberty/GateHouse bottom line).
Even though today’s Herald is a lean, stripped-down operation — thanks to about 45 newsroom departures last year that resulted from Purcell’s search for $7 million in cuts — there is skepticism in media circles that the paper can sustain itself without another significant course correction. The Globe has reported that the paper lost about $2 million last year, a figure some speculate is low. And new data show that the Herald’s daily circulation for the six months ending March 31 dropped about 9 percent, to 227,583, compared with the previous year, while Sunday circulation plummeted more than 18 percent, to 122,712.
The Herald can’t survive “unless [Purcell] makes a deal with the union somehow,” says one observer flatly. “He’s got to grind more out of them. He needs to limit his expenses.”
There is no shortage of potential options, or at least suggestions, floating around. There is talk of a free-distribution model, something Purcell has looked at but also expressed reservations about. The idea of further cuts in the newsroom in conjunction with narrowing the paper’s geographic reach and editorial mission has also gained currency. Some analysts wonder whether Purcell will sell the valuable Herald South End property. And then there’s the likely possibility of focusing more intensely on the online operation.
In his message on Monday, Purcell referenced the fact that “younger readers and advertisers are migrating to the Internet,” and he told his own paper on Tuesday that the number of unique visitors to the Herald Media’s online operation had increased dramatically in a year.
