The Press of Atlantic City has been sold to Warren Buffett’s BH Media Group. Buffett now owns 30 daily and 40 weekly newspapers in 10 states.
The Press of Atlantic City, like most other newspapers, has lost both readership & advertisers over the years. The Press of AC’s circulation is now down to 67,000 daily and only 77,000 Sunday. Online readership of the paper has been hampered by a so-called ‘paywall’, forcing readers to pay a fee after viewing 3 online articles.
Abarta, now the former owner of The Press, said it sold the newspaper because it wanted to focus on businesses with higher growth potential. The Press cut 15 percent of its workforce recently in order to improve its balance sheet prior to the sale.
Subscribe BrigantineNOW
I hope that Mr Buffett is able to bring more responsible and inclusive newspaper reporting than we often find elsewhere. In Australia especially, our new media is often manipulated so we only get to hear what certain people want us to hear. We tend to have a distorted view of reality and might make bad judgements based on that sort of ‘cherry-picked’ news management.
I am encouraged that Mr Buffett’s newspapers online already seem to have a wide use of ‘reader comments’ sections, often using Facebook ID that helps to control content more civilly. Too many newspapers fail to understand that 21st century readers want an inter-active news service where they can also comment upon the views expressed by journalists. Reader comments, even if offered, are then often subjected to a moderation / blocking system too often. It becomes a form of censorship to not publish all views equally.
Newspapers have excused their lack of reader comment provision or need for moderation by saying that a reader comment section is too expensive to run..or may cause litigation. But that is a suspect argument that usually simply hides the goal of censoring, especially if reader comments may present an opposing view…or upset newspaper ‘donors’ and advertisers! All a site has to do is provide an Abuse/Report button. If nobody reports a reader comment…presumably nobody was harmed by reading it?
Why will newspapers not understand that readers now want better value for money than they have been given or has been possible, in the past? A modern online newspaper is potentially a medium for sharing of views, with reasonable, free discussion in a democratic environment. It is NOT just a one-way communication tool. We have the technology where reader comments can be added as ‘standard’ after every news article..so we can do it. If Mr Buffett ensures that his newspapers become fully inter-active then I believe that he will be successful in getting readers to pay for their online news.
Other news moguls would fear a loss of power to influence very often…as reader comments are stark in their import, if all are allowed to be printed. I think that Mr Buffett could teach those threatened newspaper men a thing or two about caring, sharing, value for money, democracy…AND making profts.