Tribune Tower

Robservations on the media beat:

The Michael Ferro era at Tribune Publishing may be over sooner than anyone could have imagined. Just three months after the tech entrepreneur bought his way in as board chairman of the Chicago Tribune parent company, his exit appears inevitable thanks to an $815 million bid for the company from Gannett, made public Monday. If Gannett succeeds, as most analysts predict, gone would be Ferro’s grandiose pronouncements about saving journalism and reinventing news. Gannett likely would replace words with actions — cutting expenses, slashing staff and operating “more efficiently.” Continue reading →

Chicago Tribune

Faced with an unsolicited offer from Gannett Co., Tribune Publishing confirmed Monday that it is “thoroughly evaluating the proposal in consultation with our independent financial and legal advisors.”

The Chicago-based parent company of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and nine other dailies across the country said it has hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Lazard as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal advisor. Continue reading →

Chicago Sun-Times

Monday’s stop-the-presses news that Gannett Co. wants to buy Tribune Publishing isn’t the first foray of the Virginia-based media giant into the Chicago newspaper market.

In addition to distributing its flagship USA Today on newsstands here, Gannett has a comprehensive editorial partnership agreement with the Sun-Times.

USA Today

Since March 2015 Gannett has provided at least 10 pages of USA Today-branded editorial content each day in the Sun-Times. The arrangement substantially increased the paper’s coverage of national and international news, business and sports.

The Gannett deal with Sun-Times parent company Wrapports LLC was negotiated under Michael Ferro, then chairman of Wrapports, and Timothy Knight, former CEO of Wrapports. Since last February, Ferro has been chairman of Tribune Publishing.

According to Gannett, Ferro and Tribune Publishing CEO Justin Dearborn have refused to begin formal negations so far on Gannett’s offer. Gannett has offered to pay $12.25 per share, which represents a 63 percent premium to Tribune’s closing stock price or a total of about $815 million, for the company, which includes Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and nine other dailies across the country.

Jim Kirk, editor and publisher of the Sun-Times, declined to comment on how Gannett's acquisition of Tribune Publishing would alter USA Today's deal with the Sun-Times.

Chicago Tribune

Stop the presses.

Gannett Company, owner of USA Today and more than 100 other newspapers, announced an offer Monday to buy Tribune Publishing, the Chicago-based parent company of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and nine other dailies across the country. Continue reading →

Ron Magers

No one was more surprised than Ron Magers to see his name and words appear in an advertisement for a competitor published in Sunday’s edition of the Chicago Tribune.

The veteran Chicago anchorman, who’s retiring next month after 18 years at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7, said he never authorized the rival station, Tribune Media WGN-Channel 9, to use him in any promotion. Continue reading →

Laquan McDonald video

NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 this week was named winner of a George Foster Peabody Award for its investigative reporting on the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer.

“WMAQ’s relentless, unrivaled reporting brought to light a host of police procedural infractions, official disinformation and outright lies, and contributed to a police department shakeup,” the judging committee said in announcing the award. Continue reading →

Michael W. Ferro Jr.

Michael W. Ferro Jr., the tech entrepreneur who says he’s out to “save journalism,” sits atop a growing Chicago media empire that encompasses the Chicago Tribune, RedEye Chicago, Chicago magazine and a string of 38 suburban daily and weekly newspapers stretching from Aurora to Waukegan to Gary, Indiana, among other publications and websites.

Rarely has one person held so much sway over so many Chicago area mastheads. Continue reading →

Ron Magers and Carol Marin

As if we needed another reason to love Ron Magers, now the retiring anchorman has come out against television’s obnoxious fetish for branding every story “breaking news.”

‘Breaking news’ is a great idea,” he declared. “But if you label everything ‘breaking news,’ you’ve now become that fanatic who clings to the idea until the idea is no good anymore.” Continue reading →

Todd Cavanah

Todd Cavanah, a nationally respected programmer and 27-year veteran of Chicago radio, has been promoted to vice president of programming for CBS Radio Chicago.

In his new role, Cavanah will oversee programming for the group’s six formats — Top 40 WBBM FM 96.3; classic hits WJMK FM 104.3, country WUSN FM 99.5; adult album alternative WXRT FM 93.1; all-news WBBM AM 780/WCFS FM 105.9; and sports/talk WSCR AM 670. Continue reading →

Michelle Obama, Doug Banks, Wendy Banks and President Barack Obama (2013)

Robservations on the media beat:

Family and friends of Doug Banks gathered in Dallas Saturday to hear tributes to the late radio star, including one from President Barack Obama. Jerry Lopes, president of American Urban Radio Networks, read a letter from the president, who’d been a fan of Banks, as was First Lady Michelle Obama, since their years in Chicago. Banks died April 11 of complications from diabetes at 57. Among former Chicago colleagues at the memorial service were personalities Tom Joyner, DeDe McGuire and Rick Party; Marv Dyson, former president and general manager of WVAZ FM 102.7 and WGCI FM 107.5, and Derrick Brown, director of urban programming for iHeartMedia Chicago. Continue reading →