Times: Is Cablevision prepared to own a newspaper?
By Leah McBride Mensching, Monday 26 May 2008 at 18:39 :: Media Ownership :: #1697 :: rss
Cablevision is the latest in a line of four owners to take over Newsday since 1995, and the newspaper's staffers and readers wonder if it will still have the independence to critique itself and its new corporate owners once the sale is complete, not to mention if the cable company is prepared to run a newspaper, The New York Times reported Monday.
“Not so long ago, Newsday belonged to the front rank of American journalism. It reached far beyond its original role as chronicler of Long Island, covered news worldwide, undertook big reporting projects and even had the audacity to take on the New York City market. But since 1995, a series of owners and managers has chipped away at Newsday’s news budget and its mission, turning it into something smaller, more local and, in many ways, less ambitious — a good regional newspaper,” states The New York Times article, by Richard Pérez-Peña.
Cablevision, which has never owned a newspaper, bought Newsday for US$650 million earlier this month. Owned by the Dolan family, the high-speed Internet, digital cable TV and digital voice services company has never had the best of relationships with the news media, The New York Times reported, which leaves reporters and editors at the paper on edge.
Howard Schneider, who was Newsday's editor-in-chief until he retired in 2004, told The New York Times that because Cablevision has never been associated with journalism, it raises the question: “Do they understand the mission of a newspaper and what made this one great?”
Charles F. Dolan, chairman of Cablevision, told shareholders last week that the company plans to “consult widely and seek advice from people” who have more expertise in the newspaper industry, according to The Times. Cablevision executives have stated their plans for integrating advertising between the two businesses to some extent, and have said the newspaper and the cable television branch can cross-promote one another and sell advertising together, which they hope will help with revenue and subscription numbers. However, Cablevision would not comment to The New York Times on the matter.
Newsday, which serves Long Island's 2.8 million residents, was bought by the Tribune Company in 1995. Tribune made sweeping job cuts, eliminating the newspaper's foreign bureaux and most of its Washington staff. However, Long Islanders hope Cablevision, even though it has no newspaper experience, will want to invest in the paper because it's a local company.
Newsday has the 11th highest circulation in the United States, at about 380,000 on weekdays. Operating profits in 2007 were at more than $80 million, on $500 million in revenues.
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