**KnightRidder reporter warns of hostile takeover with a political twist**

[blm]

MUST READ EVERY WORD - Comes right out and says it's a GOP controlled move.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001432946


Knight Ridder Reporter Warns of Hostile Takeover--with Political Twist?
As reports swirl that KR could or should be sold, under new pressure from what he calls a "pro-GOP" big investor, a longtime Philly Daily News scribe charges that this would be "bad news" for the chain--and all of American media.

By Will Bunch

PHILADELPHIA (November 02, 2005) -- As you probably know if you're a newspaper junkie, and may not know if you're a normal human being, a Florida-based investment group -- with zero fanfare -- has bought up 19% of the stock of Knight Ridder, Inc., the owners of the Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer, not to mention the Miami Herald, the San Jose Mercury News, and a bunch of other big names in the dead-tree world.

And now, apparently unaware that newspaper readership has been dropping steadily for a half-decade and that advertisers are starting to follow readers to this new-fangled Internet thingee, the investors -- named Private Capital Management -- are shocked, shocked to learn that they aren't getting the greatest return on their investment.

And so their solution: They want to sell the company.

This is probably very bad news, for a couple of reasons. And even if you're one of the many people who thinks that newspapers are dinosaurs and believe it doesn't matter whether they live or die, you should pay attention to this.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[EFerrari]

1. I remember you posted about this. Will read. Thanks. n/t

[blm]

4. Thankyou....I'm scared to death people aren't picking up on the import

of this story.

Maybe if I posted that it's HUGH!!!!!!!

;)

[MelissaB]

2. It's there in black and white for us to read.

This is war, or more war for truth.

[wtbymark]

3. well then, they should go private....

and sell it to George Sorros, problem solved

[blm]

34. Call him.

.

[MelissaB]

5. snip

These new developments aren't just a business deal -- they're important for a free media, and important for democracy.

Wake up, everybody.

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. Recommended - this is important!!! Here is previous post on the issue:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5234721
thread title (11/1): IMPORTANT ALERT: BushInc may be making move to take down KnightRidder.

[WiseButAngrySara]

15. Thank you! I was looking for links on this topic. ....n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. Very important read

I recommended the thread and suggest everyone read the article.

If we lose what we have left of our free press it's over folks.

[Gloria]

8. OK, where is Gore's group of investors or Soros to buy this

baby out....we can't afford to lose KR

Is the DNC even aware of this??

[progressoid]

9. Exactly.

Isn't there anybody on the left that can put a wrench in this?

[blm]

10. I think this is PERFECT OPPORTUNITY for Dean and DNC to EXPOSE this

tactic of controlling the news by GOP cronies.

[ReadTomPaine]

26. Bingo. It would make a nice nucleus for a progressive echo chamber ...

Let see if any smart progressive investors pony up. Opportunities like these don't happen every day.

[blm]

33. I think the plan was to catch the left unprepared.

.

[cascadiance]

48. I was also thinking of Ted Turner too as I noted in the other thread...

Since he's backed away from AOL/CNN now, I'd bet he might be wanting to make his mark again on another media group that he can "restore" the media with.

[blm]

52. And why not with the BEST reporters in DC? The DC bureau has the best

investigative reporters on national news that REALLY effects this country. The only one who dared hold a mirror up to the Bush WH.

[sojourner]

11. anyone got the right kind of connections to sent this to?

it IS important. unfortunately I know next to nothing about what can legally be done to thwart a hostile takeover bid...I think we should send this to people who might be able to make a difference, though.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Recommend! Recommend! Recommend! Knight-Ridder has been the...

...the only reliable news service in the country on the Iraq war! And their subsidiary papers are the only newspapers in the country even trying to do a decent job on numerous issues.

Somebody has to save Knight-Ridder! This is a fascist takeover of the last remaining independent news organization in the country!

Please, people, how can we stop this?

-------------------

(Note to blm: Is there a typo (the word "way") in the sentence above that begins "Say what you will...," para. 8? I don't understand the sentence.)

[blm]

14. Reporter is saying that even though it's a business, the managers let the

reporters do their job and don't interfere.

[cascadiance]

56. That's the way I saw it when I worked there...

They were actually very top-heavy when it came to regional VP's and newspaper property management. Those regional VP's which were more tied to their newspapers than some "central entity" wielded a lot of power for their different locations. Given that environment, it's not hard to see why a Washington Bureau that worked alongside all of these different news properties had more local control over what they did and weren't centrally directed as much like Rupert Murdoch or Roger Ailles would handle Fox News and Newscorp properties. It would be nice to get someone else that would take it over and still let a lot of the newspapers run independently the way they are being run now, but empower and build up the national arms such as their Washington Bureau that they have so that they have a little more power to cover things with greater scope. A group of investors like Ted Turner, Al Gore, and George Soros banding together to buy them would hopefully do just that.

Perhaps newer management as such could also help build out more local reporting resources in smaller regions. I recall them trying to consolidate the smaller paper's resources to be located more centrally in the larger papers' sites so that the larger sites would basically put out the content for the neighboring smaller properties' papers, giving them less intimate coverage. I'm sure it saved them some money, but I'd like to see some more economical ways to have them have greater local coverage than they have had.

[pinto]

13. Their Washington Bureau does a great job. And the reports get

print space in the KR chain...I live in one of their small markets and see a Wash Bureau piece here once or twice a week...

A takeover would be a real loss.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Freedom of the Press and in turn

our own democracy is at stake. If the American People sleep through this: we are going to wake up just like the Germans did in the 30's to find Hitler in control.

[WiseButAngrySara]

17. K and R, and off to educate myself on all of this. ....n/t

[zalinda]

18. Okay, what if all the dems that could

bought a share of their stock. At $80, I could buy 1. Maybe we could get someone who knows about this stuff to organize it.

zalinda

[blm]

19. They're saying that a deep-pocket source COULD do a takeover by offering

80 a share to make certain the company is broken up afterwards. Like a Rupert Murdoch style move to eliminate competition or bring them into his own Bushlicking empire. Either way it hurts.

BTW...The last I saw it was at 58 a share a couple days ago.

[drm604]

45. Maybe someone like MoveOn, DFA, or the Rockridge Institute?

I'd buy some shares if I knew there was enough of us to give us control.

Maybe we need to set up some sort of progressive media group that would take donations and buy controlling interest in media outlets, or at least buy enough to prevent someone else from getting control.

I'm not sure about the legalities of all this, we wouldn't want to run afoul of anti-trust laws, but it would seem to be an idea worth pursuing.

I have no idea how to even start with something like this. We would need some big backers.

[electropop]

20. So the GOP financiers are _selling_ the newspapers.

Isn't that a _good_ thing?

[blm]

22. No. They're demanding it be broken up to eliminate it as a power.

They HAVE control over Gannett and Tribune and the NYT and WashPost have been in their bag for decades.

[Blue_Tires]

21. ttt n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

23. Before we sing the praises of Knight Ridder too highly

I'd like to point out that they're one of the biggest union-busters in the country. Google "Detroit newspaper strike" and you'll find all kinds of stuff on what KR did in that bastion of American labor. In a word, it was fugly.

Also, read "Knightfall" (subtitle: "Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism Is Putting Democracy At Risk") by Davis Merritt, a former KR high-level editor. It's an eye-opener.

I worked at a paper in the mid-'90s that was purchased by KR in 1997. It was an assets-only sale, meaning all employee contracts were null and void and everyone had to re-apply for their own job. They put security guards in the employee parking lot, for chrissakes.

Yeah, they do some of the best journalism in the country — sometimes. But at what cost? In 2001, Jay Harris resigned as publisher of the San Jose Mercury News — arguably KR's best paper — after KR announced staff cuts at the paper. Harris, who was an "employees' publisher," told the suits in a letter "...new profit targets run the risk of causing 'significant and lasting harm to the Mercury News — as a journalistic enterprise and as the special place to work that it is.'" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/03/20/BU121131.DTL&type=business)

[blm]

24. Yes, but it was part of the whole takeover by investors pushing

for profit.

Now we see that the pressure was part of the ploy to eliminate KR altogether as a powerful news source.

What we need are people of good, honest intent who understand that smaller profits while in the service of democracy and the people's right to know should be the aim.

KR makes a profit, but, these shareholders are demanding unreasonable profits to thwart quality reporting.

And the reason that KR gets praise here at DU is because they were the only ones reporting on the cooked intel books, exposing the WH lies from before the war, and the first on the DSM with front page coverage.

They have been doing the jobs expected from the NYT and the WashPost, with little commendation nationally.

[Oeditpus Rex]

25. Yes and no

KR makes an insane profit — around 20 percent. (The average "sucessful" U.S. business makes 3 to 5 percent.) The shareholders demand it, and more, but not to "thwart quality reporting." It's more like "If quality reporting is a casualty, so be it."

But the result is the same. :grr:

(Edited for typo.)

[blm]

29. It's been about 15% the last few years but GOPguys are screaming

for political reasons, not financial ones.

These same guys own chunks of Gannett and Tribune and NYT, but their focus is on the breakup of KnightRidder. They can even push for their other companies like Gannett, to buy KR and eliminate it as any competition or push their own towtheWHline ethics onto its papers.

This is politics gunning for KR.

[Oeditpus Rex]

30. Crap — that's what I get for not reading the whole story

as the OP told me to. :blush:

Then there's this, and http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051103/BUSINESS/511030336/1003">this.

And in August, Gannett, Knight Ridder and MediaNews were involved in a three-way, six-paper deal in which Gannett came out on top in terms of regional market control. Guess that was just the first lap.

[blm]

31. Yep...this is way more serious than just profit margins and business.

Thanks for giving it a second glance.

[sandnsea]

35. Have you got cross-references?

Do you have a resource that shows the Capital people own chunks of Gannett, etc.? Any way to connect those names in black and white?

[blm]

36. here's a snip....from KR thread in LBN

Shareholder seeks Knight Ridder sale, but who is buying?
11/2/2005, 6:15 p.m. ET
By SETH SUTEL
The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Money manager Bruce Sherman, a 19 percent shareholder in Knight Ridder Inc., wants the newspaper publisher to put itself up for sale. But with newspaper stocks so far out of favor with investors this year, the question arises: Who might be interested in buying it?

Sherman, who heads up the Naples, Fla.-based investment firm Private Capital Management, fired a shot across Knight Ridder's bow on Tuesday, sending a letter to Knight Ridder's directors demanding that they "aggressively pursue" a sale or face dire consequences, including a drive to shake up the board or management.

Sherman has been a longtime investor in newspaper stocks, accumulating an average position of nearly 10 percent in nine leading newspaper companies, according to a recent research report by Morgan Stanley analyst Doug Arthur. Until now, however, Sherman has remained quiet about his intentions as he added to his positions in major publishers like Gannett Co., New York Times Co. and McClatchy Co.

Sherman's firm manages about $30 billion for wealthy individuals, and he is known as a savvy investor in value stocks, or ones whose value is underappreciated in the market. Legg Mason Inc., a Baltimore-based investment company, bought his firm in 2001 for an initial cash payment of $682 million with performance incentives that could raise the deal's final value to $1.4 billion.
(snip/...)

[sandnsea]

39. Thank you

I'll write up a blog post, FWIW, I like to make things personal I guess. :)

[pinto]

27. Good points. n/t

[nashville_brook]

28. NPR All Things Considered -- has this story right now

it's focusing on profit margin

[blm]

32. profit margin makes it all seem like business when it's actually POLITICS

Politics - GOP style - meaning, gain control over all media so you can call ALL the shots.

[Cha]

37. Thank you, Will Bunch!

This nightmare is unfolding before our eyes and what can we do about it?

Where's Soros when you need him to buy Knight Ridder?

[blm]

40. Best we can do now is to SCREAM about the politics behind this.

We can't let this go down without taking the opportunity to expose the GOP control of the media and how the bastards go about doing it.

[lonestarnot]

38. Sons a bitches! School lunch program, more tax cuts for richies now this!

[glitch]

41. It would be so funny if a liberal angel swooped in and took it over, right

under their noses.

If necessary, it could be a group of angels. ;)

[JJackFlash]

42. I wish the Democrats would work

to make inroads into the media the way the repugs do.
Where are our big investors?
Fighting for the media should be a top priority.
Howard Dean? George Soros?

Same thing with voting machines - fight fire with fire.
Fight back or die.

[blm]

55. Agree. DNC needs to expose the GOP control of media and voting machines.

They are the ONLY reasons the GOP is in power today.

[Greylyn58]

43. This would be tragic if it is allowed to happen

I use to work for The Charlotte Observer and the Ridders(Tony and Peter) who are the major owners of the Knight Ridder are fairly liberal people, especially Peter.

I sincerely hope that a liberal with some money comes in to help Knight Ridder because if they are bought by some Conservative schmucks it would be extremely costly for those of us seeking the truth. At the time I worked for them they owned 33 different newspapers across the country, alot to them in major markets.

[wildeyed]

44. Over the years, I have developed a solid respect for the Observer.

It would really hurt Charlotte as a community to have the Observer taken over by corporatist conservatives. A good local newspaper is the heartbeat of a community. I dearly hope that something can be done to stop them.

[blm]

47. The Ridder brothers have been pushed out already.

They must not have seen what was coming with these GOP thugs.

[LetsGoMurphys]

46. I just sent this to a friend

His response was "They own the world, we just live in it." Its getting scary. Its going to be GOP talking points 24/7. The media used to be owned by around 20 major outlets. Now we are down to around 4. One being General Electric who makes bombs? I wonder where their interests lie? Maybe with president who uses bombs. Propaganda will be everywhere and the robots will follow.

[Selteri]

49. Fascism keeps marching on

They just want to take over the media completely.

[blm]

51. Exactly...and that's why WE need to expose their bag of tricks.

This looks like a classic case of how they pull it off.

[progressivebydesign]

50. My sis worked for KR paper for an actual Ridder.

They're decent people, the Ridder family. It would be a tragedy if the political hack investors got a hold of the company... they have been fairly independent so far.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

53. newspapers dead because they lie lie lie

if they reported the truth, instead of lying all the time,
folks would still read them.

but folks don't waste their time, instead they go to the internet where you have a choice, not just a pack of lies.

[blm]

54. Was KR lying from 2002-2005 when they reported WH cooked the intel books

on Iraq?

When they reported on the Downing Street Minutes?

This IS the DC newspaper bureau reporting the truth and that is why these GOP investors want the company broken up to reduce its power.

[Greylyn58]

57. Newspapers Lie? Let me tell you a little about

what I heard in the 4 years I worked at the Charlotte Observer.

People in general can be weird. Their perceptions can be just as weird.

One of my jobs was dealing directly with the Observer customers, correcting billing errors, starting new subscriptions, etc. On any given day I would hear a customer tell me they were canceling their subscription because:
A)The Charlotte Observer was too liberal
B)The Charlotte Observer was too conservative
or C)The Charlotte Observer ran a particular article and the
and the customer was offended by it.

There was of course many shades in-between. These same customers who thought the Observer was either conservative or liberal would come right back if we ran a good subscription rate. We were the same newspaper that they stopped because of their views, but for the right price they would subscribe.

Perception is everything. Some newspapers, as do some tv stations, might have an agenda but for the most part everything is perception.

What you call a lie is just another persons truth.

[Robb]

58. Here's a link

to Will's blog. Good stuff.

Will's a good guy, I've corresponded with him for a spell now. What is it with guys named Will? :D