The Columbus Dispatch: Dispatch sold to NY company

[KeithBWhittington]

I'm not sure I understand what you're concerned about. A lot of newspapers cover teamsthey don't own. We may even see an improvement in coverage. I don't know why it would be less, however.

This is really uncharted waters here for the Team , city and Dispatch Staff, like I said, it may be extremely minimal in the long run. Having the hometown paper have an ownership stake,however small and only by proxy, right from the start can only help things.

As others have said, print media is a slowly dying format. Luckily, the Dispatch has evolved a bit with their online work. I'd expect the Dispatch and the rest of the conglomerate that was sold to evolve more into the digital format more so.

The coverage may still be the same team. Just less work, less content, etc. that's my point. To expect it to be totally seamless seems a bit naive.

Hell, Wolfe's owned the Dispatch since the turn of the 20th century. Local family, local ties, etc....

 

[Dr. Fire]

I very much doubt there will be much change in sports coverage because the owners are in New York. What, we gonna get Rangers coverage now? j/k

The big changes will come in the political leanings of the paper, not the sports page.

Plus, they will put their own management team together here in Columbus, and they will run the show. They will try and do what they need to do to sell papers.

Heck, who knows, maybe people who aren't joined at the hip with OSU will bring us more CBJ coverage and less slobbering coverage of the Buckeyes.

 

[blahblah]

Name some, I'm genuinely curious. It should be easy to do if it happens all the time.

This conversation is moronic, as anyone who watches/listens to the markets hears about them all the time. It's barely relevant and OT to this thread. But one example right off the top of my head; P&G sold Duracell and Braun lines which accounted for 600 million in operational profit.

I don't really care why they sold it off. It really doesn't matter. I'll just wait and see what things look like in 6 months.

 

[Nordique]

In this case, you have a company in New York, realizing it can increase it's marketshare. Now they can tell advertisers that if you advertise with them, you can reach readers in Central Ohio. They're also already paying for wire services, so they can push those reports to additional papers without dramatically increasing their costs.

Very good points.

I can't say I would miss the local coverage much tbh. I watch games on FSN, check NHL.com for recaps, and chat about things here. I don't mean to be cold or insensitive, I just don't get much if any value from the local coverage of the team.

 

[NotWendell]

Where you're most likely to see a difference quickly is in digital. The failure to execute a successful digital transformation was the final nail for The Dispatch. This is one of the strengths of GateHouse.

 

[blahblah]

Where you're most likely to see a difference quickly is in digital. The failure to execute a successful digital transformation was the final nail for The Dispatch. This is one of the strengths of GateHouse.

Digital is the death of media. There aren't a lot of good revenue generation methods. "Transforming" doesn't do a whole lot honestly. Hell I've got add-on's in my browser that pretty much eliminate all adds. I get all kinds of web-site's that ***** about it inside my browser. I am waiting for these sites to just not display content in the future if you have any of those add-on's enabled.

Having said that, in which way do you think the Dispatch didn't "transform" quick enough? Why do you think that was "the the final nail"? I have multiple Dispatch apps on my phone and their print-to-digital conversion is outstanding. I use then frequently for local news.

I figured this type of thing was inevitable and was surprised it took this long.

There has to be another digital revolution eventually; otherwise any resemblance of good news media will simply die off in favor of independents with blogs. I figure at some point the news agencies will simply contract all their news stories and most journalists will turn independent. You'll have the same 10 credible people writing articles for all the digital media. At least with traditional over-the-air news you have traditional adds; although with the DVR those are much less effective than they where. I figure that method of delivery of the news will start to die off as much of this content becomes streaming.

The Internet has been great, but honestly I think it's going to do more harm than good as we continue to see it evolve. I am the tech guy that is quickly turning anti-technology. More and more of the local papers are simply going to get consolidated into more and more large outlets.

I know this is a bit OT; but I don't think the Dispatch hasn't done too many things wrong. Most of these smaller papers can see the writing on the wall and will look to sell. Local print media is just a sinking ship and I don't think going digital is really going to help in the long run. It just doesn't seem that profitable.

As far as how it impacts locally, we'll see if the owning company wants to leave most of the decision locally. Either way redundant departments will obviously start to see some layoffs. Scary time for these guys and I feel for them.

 

[NotWendell]

blah blah, I could go into great detail about all of the ways they've blown it in digital, specifically on the sales side, but it's a moot point now. GateHouse will improve these operations.

 

[EspenK]

Digital is the death of media. There aren't a lot of good revenue generation methods.


The Internet has been great, but honestly I think it's going to do more harm than good as we continue to see it evolve. I am the tech guy that is quickly turning anti-technology. More and more of the local papers are simply going to get consolidated into more and more large outlets.

To your first point I agree 100%. If you extend media to include music, tv, books and radio I think they are all affected to some degree but none more than newspapers.

To the second point, again I totally agree. I love the internet but sooner or later it is going to have to change. Free everything isn't feasible in the long run. Someone has to pay, be it through advertising or subscriptions. Add in all the problems caused by hacking personal data and the loss of jobs and there are a lot of big issues to be solved.

 

[NotWendell]

Media is not dead. Not by a long shot. Digital requires content to feed the beast. Everyone can create content, but not everyone can create GOOD content. Newspapers have hurt themselves immensely by slashing their newsrooms - making them less able to create enough good content.

 

[DJA]

So Portzline is currently off the CBJ beat and Shawn Mitchell and Arace are all Cavs, all the time right now. This is prime rumor time, just before the draft, and when we should be learning more about draft picks. Seems like Rob Mixer is trying to pick up the slack, but I'm wondering if this will become the "new normal" with the Dispatch sale.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

So Portzline is currently off the CBJ beat and Shawn Mitchell and Arace are all Cavs, all the time right now. This is prime rumor time, just before the draft, and when we should be learning more about draft picks. Seems like Rob Mixer is trying to pick up the slack, but I'm wondering if this will become the "new normal" with the Dispatch sale.

Portzline appears to be dealing with a serious family issue right now. He tweeted he would be off the beat for a while, to pray for his family and to hug your little ones. What is public on his personal FB page (apologies for stalking) includes a note of prayer/encouragement.

I would add that I don't believe the sale is final yet, and that as of right now no personnel/assignment changes have been made.

 

[DJA]

Portzline appears to be dealing with a serious family issue right now. He tweeted he would be off the beat for a while, to pray for his family and to hug your little ones. What is public on his personal FB page (apologies for stalking) includes a note of prayer/encouragement.

I would add that I don't believe the sale is final yet, and that as of right now no personnel/assignment changes have been made.

Right, I'm aware, but usually the Dispatch would have a backup fill in (especially with the draft less than 2 weeks away). Appears neither Mitchell nor Arace have been tasked with this in his absence. I'm just concerned about Portzline's personal (he seems to need to go "off the grid" fairly frequently) and professional future, and a lack of backup contributors that would only seem to get worse with the sale.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Right, I'm aware, but usually the Dispatch would have a backup fill in (especially with the draft less than 2 weeks away). Appears neither Mitchell nor Arace have been tasked with this in his absence. I'm just concerned about Portzline's personal (he seems to need to go "off the grid" fairly frequently) and professional future, and a lack of backup contributors that would only seem to get worse with the sale.

Just a guess. Were the Cavs not in the NBA finals. one of them would be.

I'm concerned about all of their professional futures, but I don't believe his current absence and lack of a backup plan is anything to do with the sale.

 

[KeithBWhittington]

Just a guess. Were the Cavs not in the NBA finals. one of them would be.

I'm concerned about all of their professional futures, but I don't believe his current absence and lack of a backup plan is anything to do with the sale.

probably not, I'll agree with you on that based on, at least, the message that has been conveyed by him.

I am interested to see if there is any posted, I wouldn't say backlash, but maybe Letters to the editor bemoaning a lack in coverage, draft prep, etc. As it could potentially have an impact on the the coverage yearly moving forward ( I.E.: the CBJ beat writer(s) transition into covering something else during the offseasons, and the "beat" basically disappearing completely during that time).

The sale may not be final, but as I said above, we are about to enter uncharted waters for the team here...

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

The sale may not be final, but as I said above, we are about to enter uncharted waters for the team here...

Never suggested otherwise. Things will likely change. Only stating that the current situation doesn't have anything to do with the sale.

 

[NotWendell]

Portzline appears to be dealing with a serious family issue right now. He tweeted he would be off the beat for a while, to pray for his family and to hug your little ones. What is public on his personal FB page (apologies for stalking) includes a note of prayer/encouragement.

I would add that I don't believe the sale is final yet, and that as of right now no personnel/assignment changes have been made.

It was announced to the staff there would be no personnel changes (layoffs) for at least 90 days.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

It was announced to the staff there would be no personnel changes (layoffs) for at least 90 days.

Indeed it was. (See post #15)

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

NBA playoffs will be done in a week at most. Still time for them to do draft preview work.

 

[Jackets Woodchuck]

Don't all of the major Ohio newspapers have a news sharing agreement? if so, couldn't the Dispatch use the Cleveland Plain Dealer or Akron Beacon Journal coverage of the NBA Finals?

 

[DJA]

Don't all of the major Ohio newspapers have a news sharing agreement? if so, couldn't the Dispatch use the Cleveland Plain Dealer or Akron Beacon Journal coverage of the NBA Finals?

Exactly. It is unacceptable that the hometown paper has zero reporters currently on the beat of the hometown team. Mitchell isn't even tweeting anything CBJ related. Use the AP coverage of the NBA Finals if you have to.

 

[Fro]

what is there to even talk about???? my gawd...no FA signings happened, no trades, there's absolutely NOTHING going on with the team right now...so little that the team is writing about flags for flag day....yawn

 

[Nanabijou]

what is there to even talk about???? my gawd...no FA signings happened, no trades, there's absolutely NOTHING going on with the team right now...so little that the team is writing about flags for flag day....yawn

This. There is nothing to cover right now beyond talking rumors. If Porty was posting rumors right now, we'd all be making fun of him about how it is just speculation and he has no inside knowledge.

I prefer the silence to the click bait.

 

[DJA]

what is there to even talk about???? my gawd...no FA signings happened, no trades, there's absolutely NOTHING going on with the team right now...so little that the team is writing about flags for flag day....yawn

If you can't find something to write about, you're doing beat reporting wrong...profiles of potential draft picks each day? Even reporting on the Stanley Cup Finals? It's like the dispatch has cut off the NHL completely

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

If you can't find something to write about, you're doing beat reporting wrong...profiles of potential draft picks each day? Even reporting on the Stanley Cup Finals? It's like the dispatch has cut off the NHL completely

I assume Portzline would be doing that as in the past but there obviously is a non-job reason why that isn't happening.

I doubt there would be the sudden NBA interest on the D's part if it were the Bulls or Hawks in the finals.

I don't view this as a long-term shift, more of a flukey confluence of life and sports.

Finals end this week. Still time for pre-draft coverage. Stories that could have been written in the past two weeks can still be written in the next week or so.

 

[Viqsi]

what is there to even talk about???? my gawd...no FA signings happened, no trades, there's absolutely NOTHING going on with the team right now...so little that the team is writing about flags for flag day....yawn

"But we get reports about the current GPA of Slate Thickneck out of North Erehwon High School all the time!!!1111111one"

Wake me when this continues through the week of the draft.