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Cox takes Statesman off the market
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, August 06, 2009
The owner of the Austin American-Statesman has taken the newspaper off the market after deciding that offers it had received did not reflect the value of the company.
The Statesman will operate as part of Cox Media Group, a publishing, digital media and broadcasting subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises.
“Cox Enterprises said from the beginning that it would not preside over a fire sale,” Statesman publisher Michael Vivio said Thursday. “This is a profitable company, and it just did not make sense to sell it for the prices offered.
“We look forward to continuing our pursuit of excellence as journalists, as a media company and as a partner with our customers,” Vivio said.
Cox put the Statesman and 28 other daily and weekly newspapers on the market in August 2008 and has sold most of them, including the Waco Tribune-Herald, The Lufkin Daily News and The Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches, Texas. The Longview News-Journal and The Marshall News Messenger remain for sale.
Vivio said the past year has been a difficult one for Statesman employees.
“We’ve managed to get a lot done nonetheless, and it’s a tribute to their entrepreneurial spirit and hard work,” Vivio said.
In the past year, the Statesman has finished work on a $36 million expansion of its packaging facility to make it more efficient. It also has launched weekly newspapers in Leander and Cedar Park, and its web sites have achieved the top ranking nationally in market share for a daily newspaper.
During the time it was for sale, the Statesman grew its total audience, in print and online, by 5.7 percent.
ATLANTA (July 23, 2009) – Cox Media Group announced today that Michael Joseph is being promoted to publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), effective immediately. Joseph currently serves as the AJC’s general manager and president. He will continue reporting to Doug Franklin who will continue his role at Cox Media Group as executive vice president.
“Mike is a natural choice for this role,” said Franklin. “First in Dayton, and most recently in Atlanta, Mike has exhibited a wealth of operations and management experience. These skills will be invaluable as the AJC adjusts its business model to best serve readers and advertisers.” Joseph joined the AJC in April 2009 to oversee all of the company’s business operations, including advertising, marketing, circulation, production and human resources. Prior to joining the AJC, Joseph served as president and CEO of Cox Ohio and publisher of the Dayton Daily News.
He joined Cox Ohio Publishing in 1995 and served a number of roles. While in Dayton, he was responsible for multiple business operations, including advertising sales, distribution, manufacturing, finance, information systems and human resources. He also oversaw the planning, design and operations of Cox Ohio’s Print Technology Center, which produces the company’s four daily and eight weekly newspapers, as well as the regional edition of The New York Times. Prior to joining Cox, he worked for Pioneer Press Newspapers in Illinois.
 Franklin Doug Franklin, briefly publisher at The Palm Beach Post and now executive vice-president of Cox Newspapers, spoke at the recent meeting of the Florida Press Association/Florida Society of News Editors members in Palm Beach.
Talking to the assembled group of publishers and editors at The Breakers, Franklin addressed the tough challenges facing the industry. He reportedly gave a roster of ideas to do away with the current “non-working” business model of newspapering, and embrace cost-cutting measures to streamline operations and get profitability back on track while meeting readers’ needs.
He advocated cutting and combining staffs of all local papers to create one large regional paper for the Southeast area.
Some key points included:
- Identify “core” coverage areas, and use salaried beat reporters to cover them.
- Use freelancers to fill in all other coverage, reducing full-time staff to essential personnel.
- Eliminate local copy desks – combine desks among all the papers in one region.
- Combine the papers in a region and pool all other resources.
He also didn’t rule out going solely to a digital edition but said the media must shed traditional formats to deliver news and information on several platforms in this technology-driven age.
Already in motion
Franklin put into pratice his methods at The Post beginning in August 2008, when more than 280 employees were offered “Voluntary Separation Agreements.” This was followed by further staff cuts in December, and the shutting down of presses and print production on site. Those operations were moved to the Sun-Sentinel, along with distribution.
Coverage of certain news beats is pooled with them; sports and photography departments also pool resources.
Palm Beach Newspapers Inc., which publishes the Palm Beach Daily News and La Palma along with The Post, is down to around 540 full-time employees, from a high of around 1700. More staff cuts, estimated at 40 to 50 from advertising and news departments, were recently announced the current publisher, Alex Taylor.
After a round of hurried employee evaluations — points awarded to each staffer based on criteria decided by managers and HR — the cuts will be made by September 1. Remaining positions will undergo a reorganization. Those remaining must reapply for their jobs.
Off the AP Newswire:
Cox Enterprises Inc. agreed to sell more than a dozen North Carolina newspapers to a company headed by the son of late billionaire Jack Kent Cooke.
Cox said Monday that it will sell the Rocky Mount Telegram, The Daily Reflector of Greenville and The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City along with 10 weekly papers in eastern North Carolina.
John Kent Cooke, who heads Cooke Communications LLC, said in a statement that the group believes in the tradition of family-owned independent newspapers. His son, John Kent Cooke Jr., will serve as president of Cooke Communications North Carolina and publisher of The Daily Reflector.
Georgia-based Cox Enterprises continues to market its newspapers in Texas.
Time Magazine has posted an article on different ways different media are approaching the “Pay or not?” conundrum clogging blogs, think tanks and newsroom board rooms everywhere.
Read it here — and give us your opinion: Are you willing to pay to get your news online? If not, do you care that you’ll have to read product placement, or possibly “placed” advertorial stories that do pay for the Web site instead?
Farewell to a news legend
And we pause to remember the silence of a sure voice that delivered the news in markedly unsure times: Walter Cronkite — a consummate newsman. Good night, Walter.
 Walter Cronkite
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