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This March Platinum Equity bought the formerly prosperous, influential San Diego Union-Tribune — for what online newspaper analyst Ken Doctor said was reportedly a “song” — and brought in Canadian publisher David Black (no relation to Conrad) as strategic adviser. Two years earlier Black had bought the Akron Beacon-Journal, and Doctor looked to Akron for clues as to what Black intended for San Diego. Doctor said the Union-Tribune‘s staff and readers should find no encouragement in the Beacon-Journal example. “Mainly, the Beacon-Journal, like most of its brethren, has gotten smaller. At least three rounds of layoffs have reduced the staff by more than a third.” Moreover, “the Beacon-Journal has not distinguished itself in pushing its newsroom to embrace web-first, web-only, blog-friendly reporting. The online sales side is a work in progress.”
Is it possible for anyone to move the Sun-Times and the other STMG titles even further in that direction?
