#dean singleton

[mapadvisors-blog]

This interview between Martin Langeveld and Dean Singleton, one of the most forward thinkers in the newspaper world, summarizes one man's recipe for continuation of the newspaper business: continued consolidation and more cost cutting. My question: what will remain when all of this is accomplished? Will the storied newspaper brand names survive the homogenization?

[sabitakath-blog-blog]

The shakeup at MediaNews: Why it could be the leadup to a massive newspaper consolidation

Back in the early 1990s, Dean Singleton predicted that ultimately there would be just three newspaper companies left standing, and he intended his MediaNews Group to be one of them.

It was an audacious prediction, because at the time, after a decade of wheeling, dealing and sometimes ruthless management, MediaNews Group still consisted of just a dozen newspapers, and the company’s board meetings, as he was fond of saying, “could be held in the front seat of a pickup truck.” But Singleton often repeated his prediction of industry consolidation, and it was the driver behind MediaNews’s growth into the sixth largest newspaper company (in terms of circulation) over the past 15 years. Today MediaNews has 54 daily newspapers with a total of 2.4 million weekday circulation. On its own site, MediaNews claims to be the “second largest media company,” but that’s a double stretch: Its properties are nearly all newspaper entities, and, according to  Martin Langeveld,  Gannett, Tribune, News Corp., McClatchy and Advance have more daily paid print circulation — and are certainly all bigger media companies than MediaNews.

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[gilasakawa]

This Ken Doctor piece is probably about as insightful as we're gonna get for now, about yesterday's announcement that Dean Singleton is stepping aside as CEO of MediaNews Group, the newspaper company he built to the second-largest in the US in terms of circulation. It doesn't mention Singleton's Multiple Sclerosis, which probably had something to do with his decision.

But Westword, Denver's alt-weekly (and my alma mater long before I worked for MediaNews Group) posted a surprisingly fawning, unquestioning interview with Singleton, that focuses probably too much on the MS and not enough on the business realities of bankers taking over the company.

Doctor mentions almost in passing how last year after emerging from bankruptcy, MediaNews decentralized: "He made digital investments and then dismantled his central digital staff last year."

I wouldn't be surprised if the bankers in control now move the pendulum back to its original swing, and begin centralizing operations again. All the rumors about merging with Freedom Communications, owners of the Orange County Register and the Colorado Springs Gazette, make sense in this scenario because they'd fit right in with Singleton's established trademark of consolidating services around a geographical hub, and buying up papers regionally. That also fits the rumors that have been making the rounds that MediaNews is interested in small newspapers in northern Colorado including the Longmont Times-Call.

Some of these moves will have Singleton's stamp on them, but the company's probably going to shift away from his print-centric business acumen in the months to come, even if he retains an honorific title.

I have to say that although bloggers and union folks and journalists in general tend to deride Singleton as a cutthroat businessman and almost a monster, I always saw him as a smart (albeit ruthless) businessman, and a gentleman around the office. The guy was always gracious in person when I saw him at MediaNews functions when I worked for the company.

It'll be interesting to see how the company changes.