Arkansas company said to be interested in buying the Virginian-Pilot
I heard about this Friday. I’m glad someone wrote about it.
Toby Manthey of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Saturday:
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s parent company has expressed interest in The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., and two other newspapers owned by Landmark Communications, Inc.
No formal bids to buy the papers have been made, Paul Smith, vice president of WEHCO Media, Inc., the Democrat-Gazette’s parent, said Friday. Smith added that he was unsure whether WEHCO would even be part of an official bidding process.
There’s nothing substantial in the rest of the story. If you’re interested, though, find it here.
Read our previous posts about the sale of The Virginian-Pilot: January 2, January 4, January 11, January 14, March 11
I’m just now finding the link to the Democrat-Gazette story posted today by Romenesko.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
This is nooooo good. I can tell you that the owner of the DemZette hold no value for good design. He doesn’t see it as a driver of the bottom line (take it from someone who’s had discussions with that company). Crossing fingers for Pilot staff. Maybe Gannett can swoop in and save them. Yes WEHCO is that bad.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Yeah, I can pretty much agree with that sentiment as well. The designers who work there have the ability to do some really great work … but the culture at the paper (from the top) is definitely not geared toward design.
May 24th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Boy, guys, if judge WEHCO by the design of the Democrat-Gazette, you’re missing the boat. There is much more to a media company than how its front page looks. If you haven’t noticed, the Little Rock paper is holding its own in circulation, and is No. 1 in the country for penetration. The reporters are doing great work and generally (it is a newspaper) are pretty happy. To rate Gannett better than WEHCO shows you have no idea what you are talking about. You can talk newspaper owners into changing their view on design. You can’t wash the darkness out of their soul. In the grand scheme of things, I’ll take a solid profitable company that values its employees over a snazzy front page and a vapid, evil ownership.
May 24th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Boy, guys, if you judge WEHCO by the design of the Democrat-Gazette, you’re missing the boat. There is much more to a media company than how its front page looks. If you haven’t noticed, the Little Rock paper is holding its own in circulation, and is No. 1 in the country for penetration. The reporters are doing great work and generally (it is a newspaper) are pretty happy. To rate Gannett better than WEHCO shows you have no idea what you are talking about. You can persuade a newspaper owner into changing his view on design. You can’t wash the darkness out of their soul. In the grand scheme of things, I’ll take a solid profitable company that values its employees over a snazzy front page and a vapid, evil ownership.
And apparently subscribers don’t mind the layout either, at least not enough to stop buying the paper. Maybe it we remember that we are publishing papers for subscribers not each other or contest judges, we’d be in better shape.
May 25th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I see what that last person is saying.
Sometimes I think we’re working for contests rather than our readers.
Probably the ads should say: “If you think you’re working for SND, then go to the next ad. If you want to do things for our readers, then come here.”
June 1st, 2008 at 1:40 am
I agree with Been There & Done That. I’m so tired of talking to designers who refuse to respect a paper because it doesn’t approach the standards sanctioned by SND types. It’s like we’re hellbent on becoming a mutual-admiration society regardless of how far our circ numbers sink.