As the nation celebrates its 250th birthday, readers picking up a copy of their local paper this weekend might expect photos of fireworks or July Fourth celebrations to dominate the front page.
But if their local paper is owned by Lee Enterprises, they will instead likely see a large portrait of the company’s chairman, billionaire David Hoffmann, under the headline “NEW HOPE FOR LOCAL NEWS,” according to a mockup distributed internally earlier this week and viewed by Poynter.
The company — which owns titles like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Buffalo News and the Omaha World-Herald — has asked its newspapers to run a three-story package about Hoffmann on their front pages over the holiday weekend, starting Friday. The stories, written by senior reporter David McCumber, are highly laudatory of Hoffmann, covering his recent decision to invest tens of millions of dollars into Lee, his history of philanthropic giving and his previous business successes. Several people told Poynter that to their knowledge, the package marks the first time Lee has directed its papers to run a certain news story, raising questions about editorial interference.
Hoffmann, who made his fortune by starting executive search firm DHR Global, joined Lee’s board as its chairman in February after he acquired a majority stake in the company via a $50 million deal. In the first sentence of the package’s lead story, he is introduced as “the man who’s on a mission to save your newspaper.”
It is unclear what role Hoffmann had in the development and publishing of the package, though he is quoted extensively throughout the stories. Lee spokesperson Tracy Rouch declined to comment.
Lee first notified top editors at its papers of the package on June 17, when chief content officer Jason Adrians emailed them to say that McCumber was working on an “important story” for all Lee outlets. He described it as a profile of Hoffmann, whose investment he said had “most certainly saved all of (Lee’s) local news organizations from more difficult financial times.”
“He believes in our markets, our communities, our newsrooms, your journalists and our importance to the nation,” Adrians wrote. “That’s big news, I think.
“I’m certain the story will be appropriate for A1 centerpiece play in either your Weekend or Sunday print editions, depending on your market. And I’d also like to see this story in front of the digital paywall for all audiences — Mr. Hoffmann’s incredibly thoughtful investment and total commitment to our industry is important for everyone to read about, whether they are a subscriber or not.”
A follow-up email sent Tuesday by national news editor Teryl Franklin included a copy of the print package and gave further instructions. The stories would be published online Friday morning. Anyone who had a “special circumstance” preventing them from running the package in print over the holiday weekend was advised to let Franklin know.
“The package should run in your biggest weekend print edition,” Franklin wrote. “So for the bigger dailies, that would be Sunday. For 3-day papers, put it in your weekend print edition. For 5-day papers, this should go into your Friday edition.”
Screenshot of the Lee Enterprises web page featuring David Hoffmann.
It is unusual for a company to instruct its newspapers to run a certain news story as many traditional newsrooms expect to operate with editorial independence. Over the past few years, some billionaire newspaper owners like Jeff Bezos of The Washington Post and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong of The Los Angeles Times have exerted increasing control over the opinion sections of their titles. But most have generally refrained from giving specific directives about news coverage on the story-level.
Two people familiar with the request said they had concerns about it and Lee’s decision to interfere with its papers’ editorial independence. Two others pointed out that the space used for the package — which is nearly 4,000 words and takes up two full pages in addition to the majority of the front — could have been devoted to locally produced reporting.
The unions representing staff at nearly a dozen unionized Lee papers wrote in a joint statement that they were “troubled” by the company’s decision.
“Hoffmann leading a $50 million investment in Lee is certainly newsworthy and makes him a crucial figure in all of the markets where Lee owns a newspaper. But the unionized newsrooms of Lee Enterprises are voicing our collective concerns that the three stories lack the journalistic integrity that would be demanded of other stories that would get this level of display and prominence,” the unions wrote. “This upcoming, three-story Hoffmann print spread — and its tone — would not have been our choice, and we trust our readers to read between the lines.”
Mark Plemmons, an editor at the Independent Tribune in Concord, North Carolina, confirmed that his paper will be running the story on its front page. He said that while the Tribune occasionally runs series that are published nationally at other Lee papers, those were never mandatory to run. Lee also occasionally asks papers to “write or rewrite a column explaining a change in comics or content,” but the Tribune has generally had a lot of editorial freedom. Plemmons said he believes the Hoffmann profiles mark the first time Lee has asked its papers to run a specific news story.
The stories in the package portray Hoffmann in an entirely positive light while shedding little new insight into his plans for Lee’s papers. The company has struggled financially in recent years amid industry-wide print declines, and its last profitable quarter was in December 2023. In the package, Hoffmann reiterates his commitment to print — though he notes print frequency at certain papers may decrease — and states that “diversification” and a “conservative” capital structure will help Lee survive at a time when many newspapers are closing.
“These newspapers will all continue to have a print edition unless I go broke, and I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Hoffmann is quoted as saying.
In the stories, Hoffmann echoes past comments he’s made about the importance of local journalism, pledging to invest in the Lee properties. One story notes that some Lee newsrooms have already grown their staff, hiring reporters to cover topics like business and high school sports.
The unions praised Hoffmann’s stated commitment to investing in local journalism, though they urged him to meet directly with local reporters at Lee’s properties. One of the stories in the package notes that Hoffmann held town halls with local community leaders in several of Lee’s markets. But requests by local journalists to cover those meetings were denied, according to the unions.
“Hoffmann, in his public comments to date and now through this upcoming profile and two sidebars, has portrayed himself and his company as a potential savior of local news,” the unions wrote. “We will hold him to that standard. And we again invite him to meet with us to directly address our questions, concerns and shared interests.”
The package explores some of Hoffmann’s previous business ventures, especially his activities with his private equity firm Hoffmann Family of Companies. But it also features tangents into topics that appear to have little to do with Hoffmann’s relationship with the newspaper industry. One story is devoted entirely to describing philanthropic work by Hoffmann, his wife and one of his sons. Several people who had read the stories criticized the overly effusive tone of the stories, and two suggested the package would hurt the company’s reputation.
Nevertheless, Plemmons said he believes readers will be happy to hear what Hoffmann has to say in the stories.
“The biggest thing I fight in my market is people thinking we are going out of business or have gone out. This should give our readers more confidence.”
