Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Another One-Newspaper Town: Pittsburgh-Tribune Review: DOA on Nov. 30th.

In essence, it's going to become a glorified blog after it ceases print publication on Nov. 30th. I am skeptical that they can make any money doing that, since they will be giving the content away for free.

One line from the story deserves a little notice:
[The late billionaire Richard Mellon] Scaife bought several smaller daily and weekly newspapers and created Trib Total Media in 2005.

In the decade since, however, Trib Total Media has contracted, with much of the downsizing occurring after Scaife died in July 2014.

His children have since sued Scaife's estate claiming money to which they were entitled had been spent on propping up Trib Total Media. That litigation is ongoing, though attorneys for Scaife's estate have argued that the spending was lawful.
Scaife is alleged to have taken $450 million from the family trust to prop up his newspaper operation. The heirs are alleging that the trustees knew that Scaife was looting the trust to prop up his newspaper operation and they want the money back from the trustees.

The Trib laid off or bought ought over 200 people in `14 and `15, the paper went on the DNR list once Scaife died and there was no more money coming from him.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette isn't exactly healthy. They bought out or laid off 120 people last year.

1 comment:

  1. it's disgusting to witness the newspapers all committing suicide - unthinking greed did 'em in; when the corporates took over n smelled a way to 20% ROI short term and MBAs became managing editors... awww, fk it - it didn't have to be this way

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