Investors should beware being seduced by prospects of high dividend payouts from GateHouse Media Inc. because the newspaper publisher looks "very expensive" according to Barron's online edition on Sunday.
One concern, the article said, is the entrance of Google and Yahoo into local ad markets.
GateHouse Media owns hundreds of small newspapers and shoppers nationwide, including The Carthage Press, Joplin Daily, Neosho Daily News,and the Big Nickel.
5 comments:
GateHouse is great at seduction. They suckered us into thinking that Joplin Daily was going to be a real meaty newspaper and provide some serious competition for the Globe. They've had their moments, but by and large it's been a flash in the pan. The problem is, Joplin Daily is severely understaffed and the publisher knows next to nothing about the newspaper business.
Whatever happened to the Daily's old sports editor, Levi Payton?
Levi's parents took his car away from him and therefore he was unable to drive to sporting events. Without wheels, he was of little value to the paper.
Here is the Daily's problem:
It is forgetting its mission. It needs to conduct guerrilla warfare. Lots of stringers (it would help if you pay them, BTW) armed with cameras and recorders and notebooks prowling Joplin for the news.
Community journalism with the hard stuff in there, too. The stringers would free up Hacker and his chicks to cover the meat and potatoes stuff.
They can't beat The Globe with resources, so they have to do it with planning and moxie and cunning.
This "paper" is a good idea. It just needs to be managed correctly.
Well said, Anonymous. You have hit the nail on the head. An army of stringers who can count on being paid on a regular basis. Hacker and company need to think outside the box.
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