Tuesday, May 2, 2006
MediaNews Deal Has Many Nervous About Singleton
The Associated Press
Published: 4/26/06
Excerpt:
One thing about William Dean Singleton: The chief executive of MediaNews Group makes people nervous.
With MediaNews on the verge of buying four newspapers from McClatchy Co. for $1 billion, the question now is, what next?
In
Detroit, a union leader said employees were disappointed at voluntary
buyouts and a decision not to print a Sunday edition of The Detroit
News, owned by MediaNews. In San Jose, Calif., where the Mercury News [was] part of [last] Wednesday's deal, a union leader said he's concerned about
staffing levels.
"People are nervous, as anyone would be when
they don't know what their fate is," said Mike Bazeley, a senior Web
editor at the Mercury News, which McClatchy has had on the selling
block for months. "We've been on this roller coaster now since
November."
MediaNews Group Inc., publisher of The Denver Post
and other newspapers, is also acquiring the Contra Costa Times, the
Monterey County Herald and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. ...
With no family pot of money and not much of a track record, Singleton
has been buying newspapers since his 20s, earning an early reputation
for being a cost cutter and taking on papers other people didn't want.
Yet
that's not the way he's run one of MediaNews' biggest names, The Denver
Post, said Rick Edmonds, a researcher and writer at the Poynter
Institute.
"It's different now. He may have evolved a bit in
what his objectives and strategies are," Edmonds said. "If he ever was
a black sheep in the industry, he's not anymore. He's very much an
industry leader."
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