Media -- Dont Quote Me

Liberty or Death

By MARK JURKOWITZ | May 11, 2006

Another situation that bears watching is the status of Herald Media editorial director Ken Chandler, who returned to One Herald Square in 2003 as a consultant and became the architect of the paper’s editorial makeover. Chandler preached the gospel of splashier, more populist tabloid journalism, a change in philosophy that sent long-time editor Andy Costello and managing editor Andy Gully packing. Managing editor Kevin Convey is now the heir apparent to run the ship. But the question is how long Chandler — who probably pulls down significant dollars — will remain with the organization, particularly now that CNC is no longer part of the realm.

While Purcell’s Monday message to readers suggests he believes the “politicians” and “prognosticators” were hoping for the Herald’s demise, the truth is he’s engendered much goodwill here. And as he launches a renewed effort to keep Boston a vital two-newspaper town, one analyst says that one of his biggest obstacles may be the changing face of this city and its atomizing business community.

“For years, the major business folks in town wanted to give Pat a boost personally as well as to keep it a two-newspaper town,” the observer says. “Now the decision-makers on ad buys are often from out of town, because a lot of major Boston businesses are no longer locally owned or controlled.... They’re not going to care about either Pat or the benefits of a two-newspaper culture.”

On the Web
Mark Jurkowitz's Media Log: http://www.thephoenix.com/medialog/
Liberty Group Publishing: http://www.liberty-group.com/
Fortress Investment Group: http://www.fortressinv.com
Herald Media: http://www.heraldmedia.com/about.bg

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Related: When Rupert came to Boston, High noon at the Herald, Leftward ho!, More

Topics: Media -- Dont Quote Me , Media, Rupert Murdoch, Brockton Enterprise, More

Comments

Liberty or Death

Just a point of interest on this topic. Pat Jr. the twenty something Ad Director of Herald Media has been shipped back to the NY Post to be the Retail Ad Manager..... Does that sound like a rebuilding We're here to stay situation?

By sully on 05/11/2006 at 3:28:04

Liberty or Death

Mark- You better look twice at the competitive landscape. There is new blood running Liberty and these folks know how to compete. Don't be surprised if Kirk Davis also puts his stamp on the action with the weeklies. My guess is you will finally see some major moves at those weeklies as they take whatever marketing steps are needed to firm circulation in their coverage areas. Take a look at the strength of the weekly clusters around Washington D.C. and Baltimore and you should see the future of weekly newspapering in the Boston suburbs and along the Cape. Established in 1959, W.B. Grimes & Company has represented publishers in the sale and acquisition of over 1,000 media properties.

By Larry Grimes on 05/12/2006 at 4:32:15

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The magic 400,000 mark

While the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations numbers for the Herald were certainly discouraging, things weren’t much better on Morrissey Boulevard. The Globe’s Sunday circulation for the six months ending March 31 was down slightly more than 10 percent — to 604,068 — compared with the same period the year before. That’s dangerously close to the magic 600,000 mark. But the real milestone was set when daily circulation dropped 8.5 percent, to 397,288, putting the paper under the crucial 400,000 barrier, which is a kind of psychological setback. Some of that decline, the paper has maintained, is a result of the Globe cutting back on discounted “bulk sales” that are viewed as unreliable by advertisers. But the lingering question is whether the Globe’s infamous January snafu, in which the company accidentally released credit-card info on 240,000 Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette subscribers, played a role in knocking circulation below 400,000. The Globe’s own story on the subject on Tuesday said the paper lost about 5000 subscriptions as a result of that mess — but added that some of those subscribers had re-upped and that those cancellations only affected the last two months of the six-month circulation-reporting period.

So the answer is: it sure didn’t help.

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