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Digital First Media

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MNG Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado, United States–based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. As of May 2021, it owns over 100 newspapers and 200 assorted other publications.[3][4]

MNG Enterprises, Inc.
Digital First Media
Company typePrivate
Headquarters
Denver, Colorado
,
U.S.
Key people
  • Michael Koren (CFO)
  • Guy Gilmore (COO)
  • Mac Tully (EVP, Central Region)
  • Sharon Ryan (EVP, Western Region)
OwnerAlden Global Capital
Number of employees
10,000+
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata
Footnotes / references
[1][2]

History

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The MediaNews Group logo, which still appears on print newspapers.

MediaNews Group was founded by Richard Scudder and William Dean Singleton. Both had experience in the American newspaper industry. Scudder ran the Newark Evening News, a newspaper founded by his grandfather.[5] Singleton had begun his career as a reporter when he was 15, for a small-town Texas newspaper and subsequently became the president of Albritton Communications, a newspaper conglomerate in Texas.[6]

Based in Denver, Colorado, Scudder and Singleton purchased their first newspaper in 1983. They incorporated MediaNews Group in 1985, with Singleton as CEO and Scudder as chairman.[7] The company began to purchase small local newspapers that were financially troubled. The company made its first major acquisition in 1987: The Denver Post. Ultimately, it became one of the largest newspaper companies in the United States. It operated 56 daily newspapers in 12 states, with combined daily and Sunday circulation of about 2.4 million and 2.7 million, respectively.[8][9] The company owned KTVA, a CBS affiliate in Anchorage, Alaska, from March 2000 to October 2012, and radio stations in Texas.

Singleton was a pioneer in "clustering": cutting jobs at individual newspapers and consolidating functions at a hub near a cluster of newspapers. For example, the Alameda Newspaper Group in suburban San Francisco in the mid-1990s had a central newsroom in Pleasanton, California, that did all the copy editing, layout and page makeup for five daily papers.[10] Upon acquiring the diverse group of papers, Singleton consolidated several news sections (such as sports and features) to one local office away from the metropolitan area, having a few reporters do the job of many people.

Singleton soon earned the nickname "Lean Dean" for his slashing of jobs through clustering. His tight-fisted methods were later adopted as the preferred model by Alden Global Capital and other hedge funds that took over near-bankrupt newspaper companies.

In August 2006, Singleton took out around $350 million in loans to purchase four newspapers from McClatchy Company. Among those providing the loan was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[11] It came out of bankruptcy in March 2010 under the majority ownership of its lenders.[12] The MediaNews creditors then removed Media News president Jody Lodovic and its chairman, William Dean Singleton, was reassigned to the position of "executive chairman of the board." The Singleton-Lodovic appointees to the MediaNews board were replaced by new directors representing the stockholders group led by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund firm which has acquired a large, though not controlling, stake. Several interim executive positions were also filled by people related to Alden or its parent, Smith Management LLC.[13] MediaNews became managed by Journal Register's Digital First Media.[14]

As of 2012, the combined newspapers and online media outlets managed by the company had 66.6 million readers.[15] In 2017, the company was ranked third-largest among the newspaper groups in the country.[16] Alden Global Capital has been accused of "strip mining" its newspaper holdings.[17][18][19][better source needed] In October 2017, the company's CEO, Steve Rossi, stepped down from his position.[16] In February 2018, Digital First Media put in a $11.9 million winning bid to purchase the Boston Herald.[20]

In March 2016, a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Freedom Communications and its two major newspapers, the Orange County Register and the Riverside Press-Enterprise to Digital First Media. The papers were integrated into Digital First Media's Los Angeles Newspaper Group, which was renamed the Southern California News Group on the same day.[21][22]

In November 2018, Digital First Media announced plans to lay off 107 staff from its Colorado Springs, Colorado financial services operations, as it outsources the work to Genpact starting December 28.[23][24]

In January 2019, Digital First Media acquired 7.5% of Gannett's public stock,[25] and made an unsolicited bid to acquire Gannett for $1.36 billion. On February 4, 2019, Gannett's board "unanimously rejected" the offer,[26] saying "that MNG does not have a realistic plan to acquire Gannett".[27] On February 11, 2019, Gannett issued a press release accusing Digital First Media of engaging in a proxy fight.[28] After a failed attempt to place 3 nominees on Gannett's board of directors through a proxy vote on May 16, 2019, DFM reduced their stake to 4.2%.[29] In August 2019, GateHouse Media ultimately announced its intent to acquire Gannett instead.[30]

On February 5, 2020, Digital First Media purchased the assets of Minnesota-based Red Wing Publishing/Big Fish Works. The sale included the Hutchinson Leader, the Litchfield Independent Review, the International Falls Journal, the Lakeshore Weekly News, the Chanhassen Villager, Chaska Herald, Eden Prairie News, Jordan Independent, Shakopee Valley News, Prior Lake American and the Savage Pacer.[31]

In April 2020, two of Minneapolis' west metro newspapers—The Eden Prairie News and Lakeshore Weekly News bought earlier in 2020 by Digital First Media—announced their closure at the end of April 2020 due to a decline in advertising revenue amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[32][33]

On May 25, 2021, Alden Global Capital acquired Tribune Publishing. With its combined holdings, Alden became the second-largest owner of newspapers in the United States in terms of subscribers, behind only Gannett.[34][35]

On July 10, 2023, Digital First Media acquired The San Diego Union-Tribune for an undisclosed sum.[36] That August, the company acquired The Scranton Times-Tribune and three other daily newspapers from Times-Shamrock Communications. The sale included weekly and periodic newspapers and commercial printing operations—Absolute Distribution Inc. and Times-Shamrock Creative Services.[37]

In April 2024, Southwest News Media, owned by Digital First Media, announced its weekly newspapers would cease before the end of the month, including: Chaska Herald, Chanhassen Villager, Jordan Independent, the Shakopee Valley News, Prior Lake American and Savage Pacer. Crow River Media, another subsidiary, announced The Hutchinson Leader and Litchfield Independent Review will also close along with its affiliate printing plant.[38][39]

Newspapers

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Further information: List of newspapers published by Digital First Media

Daily newspapers

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Listed alphabetically by name, daily newspapers owned by MediaNews include the following:[40]

Weekly newspapers

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Some of the weeklies owned by the company:[40]

Former newspapers

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Other properties

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Other MediaNews properties include:

Former properties

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Business approach

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Cost-cutting

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MediaNews Group is known as a cost-cutter in the newspaper publishing industry. The company has a reputation for buying smaller daily newspapers in a single area (examples include Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area) and consolidating their operations, including sharing staff writers and printing facilities. Some former employees and readers say that the newspapers are focused on making a profit to the detriment of good journalism.[44]

William Dean Singleton was quick to point out MediaNews' commitment to print journalism but resisted efforts to develop online web sites for his newspapers, believing print would remain the format favored by readers. The Berkshire Eagle editor David E. Scribner, two years after MediaNews bought his newspaper, said the staff realized Singleton had miscalculated the impact of the internet and attributed the downward spiral of his media properties to his short-sightedness.[45]

In recent years similar criticism has been aimed at the new organizational structure under Digital First Media. The Denver Post editorial staff and others have criticized the owners of hedge fund group, Alden Global Capital. Alden has a reputation for cutting costs by reducing the number of journalists working on its newspapers as Singleton had done and March 2018, The Washington Post called Alden "one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism."[46][47] Alden has additionally received critical coverage from its editorial staff of the Denver Post and described Alden Global Capital as "vulture capitalists" after multiple staff layoffs.[48]

Pension funds

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The company has been criticized for investing its employee pensions in funds managed by its parent company, Alden Global Capital.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Merid, Feven. "Bad Boys". Columbia Journalism Review. No. Winter 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2022-05-30. Alt URL
  2. ^ "digitalfirstmedia.com Leadership". Archived from the original on 2016-12-05. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
  3. ^ Folkenflik, David (2021-05-21). "'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2021-05-21. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  4. ^ a b O'Connell, Jonathan (2019-04-17). "The hedge fund trying to buy Gannett faces federal probe after investing newspaper workers' pensions in its own funds". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  5. ^ Cook, Timothy E. (2005-08-15). Governing With the News (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-2261-1501-6. LCCN 2005041750. OL 3421278M.
  6. ^ Charles River Editors (2018-12-14). America's Most Influential Editors: The History of the Newspaper Publishers Who Changed American Journalism and Politics. ISBN 978-1-7917-1527-4.
  7. ^ Hevesi, Dennis (2012-11-15). "Richard B. Scudder, Co-Founder of MediaNews Group, Dies at 99". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  8. ^ "Blurb from the corporate website". Archived from the original on 2010-03-06. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  9. ^ "MediaNews Group About Page". Archived from the original on 2010-03-06. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  10. ^ "ALAMEDA: FIVE NEWSPAPERS PAGINATE 2300 PAGES PER WEEK". The Cole Papers. 1994-02-06. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
  11. ^ ""Gates Foundation Makes MediaNews Loan", Toronto Star. August 22, 2006.
  12. ^ McCarty, Dawn; Bensinger, Greg (2010-01-22). "Affiliated Media Files for Bankruptcy to Restructure (Update2)". BusinessWeek. Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  13. ^ Langeveld, Martin (2011-01-20). "The shakeup at MediaNews: Why it could be the leadup to a massive newspaper consolidation". Nieman Journalism Lab. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism (Harvard University). Retrieved 2011-02-22.
  14. ^ Buttry, Steve (2011-09-07). "Journal Register's Digital First Media will manage MediaNews". The Buttry Diary. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  15. ^ Carey, Pete (2012-05-04). "Digital First Media's chief says newspapers have key advantages in the struggle for readers and advertising". San Jose Mercury News.
  16. ^ a b Doctor, Ken (2017-10-23). "Digital First Media's CEO steps down; what may lie ahead for the company?". TheStreet. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
  17. ^ "Petition | Alden". aldenexposed.com. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  18. ^ "DFM Workers". DFM Workers. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  19. ^ Folkenflik, David (2021-05-21). "'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2021-05-21. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
  20. ^ Chesto, Jon (2018-02-13). "Digital First Media wins bidding for Herald with $12m package". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  21. ^ Hebbard, D.B. (2016-03-21). "Bankruptcy judge approves Digital First Media purchase of Freedom Communications assets". Talking New Media. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  22. ^ Roderick, Kevin (2016-03-21). "Memo: LA News Group now So Cal News Group". LA Observed. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  23. ^ Roberts, Michael (2018-11-01). "How 107 Digital First Media Layoffs Will Impact Denver Post, 96 Sister Papers". Westword. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  24. ^ Heilman, Wayne (2018-10-30). "Owner of The Denver Post laying off 107 at Colorado Springs service center". Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
  25. ^ Edwards, Christian. "Digital First Media is reportedly planning to make an offer to buy USA Today publisher Gannett". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  26. ^ "Gannett Comments on MNG Enterprises, Inc.'s Continued Failure to Produce a Financing Commitment". Business Wire. 2019-03-20. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
  27. ^ Arbel, Tali. "Gannett rejects $1.36 billion buyout offer from Digital First Media". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  28. ^ Hayes, Dade (2019-02-11). "Gannett Rebuffs Board Maneuver By Digital First Media In Proxy Fight, Blasts Takeover Proposal As "Deficient"". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  29. ^ Tyko, Kelly (2019-05-22). "Hedge fund-owned MNG reduces stake in Gannett to 4.2%". USA Today. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  30. ^ Lombardo, Cara; Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. (2019-08-05). "GateHouse Media Parent to Buy Gannett for $1.4 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  31. ^ "MediaNews Group purchases Minnesota newspaper group". West Central Tribune. St Paul Pioneer Press. 2020-02-06. Archived from the original on 2020-07-30. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  32. ^ Uren, Adam (2020-04-23). "Two hedge fund-owned Twin Cities newspapers to close". Bring Me The News. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  33. ^ "Eden Prairie announces closures, cancellations due to COVID-19". Hometown Source. 2020-03-13. Archived from the original on 2020-07-30. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  34. ^ Alpert, Lukas (2021-05-21). "Tribune Says Sale to Alden Wins Approval Amid Confusion Over Key Shareholder's Vote". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  35. ^ Folkenflik, David (2021-05-21). "'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers". NPR. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  36. ^ "LA billionaire sells San Diego Union-Tribune to owner of Southern California News Group". The Orange County Register. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  37. ^ "Times-Shamrock selling off its newspaper group". wnep.com. 2023-08-31. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  38. ^ "Publishing of Southwest newspapers to end April 27". Southwest News Media. 2024-04-04. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  39. ^ Krauss, Louis (2024-04-04). "Southwest News Media to shut down its metro newspapers by end of April". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  40. ^ a b "Our Brands". MediaNews Group. 2022-04-14. Archived from the original on 2022-05-30. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  41. ^ "Colorado Hometown Weekly". Colorado Hometown Weekly. 2021-02-21.
  42. ^ "Boulder Camera owner acquires Lehman Communications, Longmont Times-Call - Longmont Times-Call". www.timescall.com. Archived from the original on 2018-05-04.
  43. ^ a b c Simpson, Kevin (2024-09-22). "Amid flurry of newspaper closures on Colorado's Eastern Plains, Burlington sees a heroic revival". The Colorado Sun. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  44. ^ Menn, Joseph (2006-03-22). "There Are Two Sides to This Publisher's Story". Los Angeles Times.[dead link]
  45. ^ Elfland, Mike. "Sentinel & Enterprise Sale Set," Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Mass.), January 8, 1997.
  46. ^ Ember, Sydney (2018-04-12). "Colorado Group Pushes to Buy Embattled Denver Post From New York Hedge Fund". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  47. ^ Silber, Tony. "Job on the Line, Denver Post Editor Hears Nothing from Company Owner". forbes.com. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  48. ^ Ember, Sydney (2018-04-07). "Denver Post Rebels Against Its Hedge-Fund Ownership". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
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