By Bruce B. Brugmann
As things get tougher and tougher in the newspaper business, there are two jobs that are the toughest of all. One is writing the obituary for your own paper and your own job. The other is writing the story that tries to explain why the daily paper you work on keeps getting peddled about like the stakes in a Las Vegas poker game.
The latest example of the second story appeared in today’s Stockton Record by an unlucky soul by the name of Mike Klocke. He starts out as these stories usually do, citing the honor that came once upon a time to the paper when it was owned by a local family.
“The Irving Martin Assembly Room at the Record is named for the newspaper’s founder, whose family owned the business for its first 74 years,” Klock wrote. “Ironically, if the day comes when The Record once again is sold, employees will get the news in the upstairs room that honors one of Stockton’s historic figures.
“I bring this up because of last week’s $5 billion offer by publishing magnate Rupert Murdoch to purchase Dow Jones @ Co. The community newspaper division of Dow Jones, Ottaway Newspapers Inc., owns the Record.”
Wait a moment. There is a telling detail: the date on the story is May 6, 2007, the date of Murdoch’s offer to buy Dow Jones, and the Record is running the exact same story six months later on the day that the sale is finalized back on Wall Street.
Bravely, Klocke goes through the Record history of five owners since Loretta Martin ended the family’s association with the Record in l969. The Record, he says, “has been somewhat akin to a baton in a track meet relay.
The Martin family sold to Speidel Newspapers Inc. (l969: which merged with Gannett Newspapers Inc (l977), which sold the Record to the Omaha World-Herald (l994), which sold to Ottaway (2003).
Still more bravely, Klocke writes that “uncertainty can be draining on employees at all levels. If you’re not careful, it can make you lose your focus. I’Ive always believed working in the newspaper business is a mission. We cover news aggressively, help you decide where to shop with advertisements and put the newspaper on your driveway each morning.
“We also now put news and advertising at your fingertips online throughout the day. We also have a bit of the chameleon in our DNA. We embrace challenges and adapt to new environments. The future? Who knows?
“The Record could be sold again, or Ottaway (Dow Jones) still could own the company for decades. Our business model, news-gathering approach and company makeup likely will continue to change.
“Our commitment to the mission and the communities we serve will not falter.”
Idle question: Why can’t reporters who think like this, and editors who allow this kind of story to run when their papers are in play, end up running our valuable community daily papers?
Well, the word from my sources out in the valley is that there are only two real possible buyers: Singleton or McClatchy newspapers, both of whom already own a dangerously huge chunk of the California newspaper business.
They are members in what I call the Galloping Conglomerati. And they are poised to pounce at the very same time that the Big Media are blacking out or marginalizing the major Big Media story that the FCC is about to open the floodgates to even more local media consolidation and even more junk news. (See my blow below.)
Where it all will end knows only God. B3
Owners might change — but not the mission
The Irving Martin Assembly Room at The Record is named for the newspaper’s founder, whose family owned the business for its first 74 years.
Ironically, if the day comes when The Record once again is sold, employees will get the news in the upstairs room that honors one of Stockton’s historic figures.
I bring this up because of last week’s $5 billion offer by publishing magnate Rupert Murdoch to purchase Dow Jones & Co. The community newspaper division of Dow Jones, Ottaway Newspapers Inc., owns The Record.
Murdoch’s eyes, of course, are on The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones’ myriad successful online ventures. For now, he’s been rebuffed by Dow Jones’ controlling shareholders.
News industry speculation is intensifying about whether this is a first foray by Murdoch and whether other potential buyers will materialize.
As for The Record? Editor and Publisher magazine’s online site reports that New England-based GateHouse Media Inc., a very active recent buyer of newspapers, would be a likely bidder for Ottaway.
GateHouse doesn’t have a West Coast presence, so The Record could in turn be sold to a company with successful California “clustering” of newspapers such as McClatchy (Sacramento, Modesto, Merced and Fresno) or MediaNews (Bay Area papers).
McClatchy and MediaNews both have pursued buying The Record in the past.
Sure, it’s speculation at this point. It’s difficult not to ponder the future when there’s the potential for a fifth different owner since Loretta Martin decided to end the family’s association with The Record in 1969.
In the past 38 years, The Record has been somewhat akin to a baton in a track-meet relay.
The Martin family sold to Speidel Newspapers Inc. (1969), which merged with Gannett Newspapers Inc. (1977), which sold The Record to the Omaha World-Herald (1994), which sold it to Ottaway (2003).
I’ve worked for three of the owners, and they’ve all contributed in positive ways to the company and community.
Ottaway – with excellent guidance and financial support from Dow Jones – made the dream of a new press facility a reality.
Company executives didn’t waste any time, telling us within 30 days of their ownership to get moving on the long-overdue project. The new press became a reality less than two years later.
Ottaway has given us – and Record readers – something we’ve needed for decades. Our Web site development also has been an Ottaway initiative.
The Omaha company proved to be a very good newspaper steward in its nine years of ownership. Omaha executives invested in The Record, and I believe the newspaper truly reconnected with the community during that time.
The Gannett years were, at times, tumultuous. Some excellent longtime employees were hired in various departments back then, and The Record benefited from the opportunities presented by a large, national chain.
Speidel was before my time.
Business uncertainty can be draining on employees at all levels. If you’re not careful, it can make you lose your focus.
I’ve always believed working in the newspaper business is a mission. We cover news aggressively, help you decide where to shop with advertisements and put the newspaper on your driveway each morning.
We also now put news and advertising at your fingertips online throughout the day.
We also have a bit of the chameleon in our DNA. We embrace challenges and adapt to new environments.
The future? Who knows?
The Record could be sold again, or Ottaway (Dow Jones) still could own the company for decades.
Our business model, news-gathering approach and company makeup likely will continue to change.
Our commitment to the mission and the communities we serve will not falter.
Contact Klocke at (209) 546-8250 or mklocke@recordnet.com.
Click here for article.