Cox Media Group to sell radio portfolio, CoxReps and Gamut businesses
Cox Enterprises, Inc. has announced that it has reached an agreement to sell Cox Media Group's Radio station portfolio as well as its CoxReps and Gamut national advertising businesses to a new broadcasting company that is substantially owned by private equity funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC. The transaction will expand the new company, which announced in February its purchase of Cox Media Group's broadcast television group and the company's radio, newspaper and television properties in Ohio.
Cox Enterprises will maintain a minority stake in the new company, which will maintain the name "Cox Media Group" and will be headquartered in Atlanta, Ga.
MORESNPA and Inland to consolidate!
I am happy to announce that the members of SNPA and Inland have voted overwhelming to consolidate into a new association that will launch on October 1. This is great news for the newspaper industry!
The consolidation is the result of many months of hard work by leaders from both SNPA and Inland. Our united goal was to develop a new association that will build on our strengths to serve our members not just for today, but also for the future.
The new association will provide a strong voice for newspapers, promote the indispensable value of newspaper journalism to local communities, and support newspapers as they adapt their business models to a quickly changing landscape.
MOREStudy finds college-educated Americans fail at digital literacy
While 88 percent of respondents reported they are confident in their critical thinking skills, only 9 percent received an "A" on a digital literacy test, according to a new national study from edtech firm MindEdge Learning. The third annual State of Critical Thinking study, commissioned by MindEdge and conducted by Qualtrics, found that a large majority of college-educated Americans could not pass a basic, nine-question digital literacy and fake news identification, and critical thinking skills test. Fully 69 percent of survey respondents failed to answer more than five of the questions correctly.
MOREGateHouse Media launches national investigative reporting team
GateHouse Media has announced a powerful investment in journalism: a national investigative and data-driven reporting team of more than 30 award-winning editors and reporters. The team will be embedded in local newsrooms, adding to local coverage efforts.
The team will be headed by Managing Editor Emily Le Coz, an award-winning journalist and GateHouse Media's first national digital projects editor. The team will report on high-impact national projects, elevate local news and experiment with innovative ways to shape the future of the industry.
MOREPAGE Cooperative's membership now open to more newspapers, commercial printers
The PAGE Cooperative voted last week to expand its membership eligibility beyond the association's long-standing, independently-owned, newspaper-only requirement to now permit newspapers of all ownership categories, as well as commercial printers, to become members of the buying cooperative.
MORETwilight Broadcasting to acquire WEEU license
Reading Eagle Company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, had solicited bids for the WEEU license when it was not included in the sale of the rest of the Reading Eagle Company to MediaNews Group, which is expected to close no later than July 31.
Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, N.M., is representing the Reading Eagle Company in the sale.
MOREA commitment to better print
In the digital age, the Sun Newspapers in southwest Florida are betting on the future of print.
Under the new ownership of Adams Publishing Group and after nine months of planning, the Port Charlotte Sun and its new sister paper, the Punta Gorda Sun, roll out Wednesday with a new look, new sections and new approaches to news coverage intended to expand what readers are getting for their subscriptions.
"Overall, we wanted to create a much better newspaper for our readers, and we wanted to grow our circulation, to modernize and give it a new exciting look and feel," said Publisher Glen Nickerson. But it isn't just one newspaper, it's several.
The biggest change is that the Charlotte Sun will be split into two editions. "It will become the Punta Gorda Sun and the Port Charlotte Sun," Nickerson said.
MORE'The Last Man To Let You Down' finally rolls off press
As sure as principal Tom James would ring the bell at Orange Street Elementary School, I knew I was going to get teased about my father's undertaking profession. I heard a thousand times: "Your daddy is the last man to let you down." Another favorite was "Your daddy is a Southern planter. He plants 'em six feet deep."
As a third- or fourth-grader, that teasing bothered me. In time, I laughed with them. But I didn't laugh at Big Dink because I knew there was a deeper meaning to "the last man to let you down."
Other than in graves, my daddy didn't let people down. To him, a promise made was a debt unpaid.
When he died in 1998, Dink NeSmith Sr. went to Heaven debt-free – financially or otherwise.
Soon after I delivered his eulogy, I made a promise to put his life's story in a book. I am embarrassed that it took so long. For two decades, I wrote and collected stories and photographs. I kept saying, "I'll need to get this done." And one morning, I looked in the mirror and said, "No more procrastinating. This is the 20th anniversary of his death. Get it done!" And with that figurative slap in the face, I got moving.
MOREUFCJC to provide $100,000 in 2019 and 2020 to support student-run newspaper
The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications has announced that it is providing $100,000 to The Independent Florida Alligator, the student-run newspaper and website at the University of Florida, to help support the newspaper as a significant immersion experience for students and provider of vital news and information to the UF community.
The College will provide $100,000 for both the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 fiscal years. Unlike most college newspapers, The Alligator has not received any direct financial support from the University since it became independent in 1973. This support will not affect The Alligator's journalistic independence going forward.
MORENew study finds Google receives an estimated $4.7 billion in revenue from news publishers' content
The News Media Alliance has published findings from a new study that analyzes how Google uses and benefits from news. Among the major findings of the study is that news is a key source on which Google has increasingly relied to drive consumer engagement with its products. The amount of news in Google search results ranges from 16 to 40 percent, and the platform received an estimated $4.7 billion in revenue in 2018 from crawling and scraping news publishers' content – without paying the publishers for that use.
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We have a new website:
www.newspapers.org
America's Newspapers – the association formed from the merger of the Inland Press Association and Southern Newspaper Publishers Association – was ceremonially launched October 6 at its inaugural annual meeting in Chicago.
Dean Ridings will be its chief executive officer, effective Nov. 11.
America's Newspapers unites two of the oldest press associations to form one of the industry's largest advocates for newspapers and the many benefits to their communities, civil life, freedom of expression and democracy.
"Newspaper journalism provides a voice for the voiceless, challenges elected officials, shines a light on government, calls for change when change is needed, and exposes corruption and injustice," said Chris Reen, the president and publisher of The Gazette in Colorado Springs who will serve as the first president of America's Newspapers.
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New association launches today;
SNPA-Inland merger is complete
A new association formed by the consolidation of SNPA and the Inland Press Association was officially launched today. The name of the new association will be announced on Oct. 6 at the association's first annual meeting in Chicago.
Edward VanHorn, SNPA's executive director, said that the merger unites two of the country's oldest press associations into a progressive new organization that will use its bigger and more powerful voice to be an unapologetic advocate for newspapers.
MoreSNPA's staunchest advocate honored for 43 years of service
Edward VanHorn, who went to work for SNPA 43 years ago straight out of the University of North Carolina, will be honored at next week's SNPA-Inland Annual Meeting as this year's recipient of the Frank W. Mayborn Leadership Award. The award is named for the Texas newspaperman who helped shape SNPA in the early 1950s and served as president from 1961 to 1962.
"He's been that silent leader behind the newspaper industry and SNPA," said SNPA President PJ Browning, president and publisher of The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. "We're honored to have the opportunity to give him this award as he's retiring. We thought it was very fitting."
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