{"id":11211,"date":"2016-04-26T06:30:59","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T11:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=11211"},"modified":"2016-04-26T17:34:48","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T22:34:48","slug":"robservations-gannett-bid-refigures-chicago-media-equation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2016\/04\/26\/robservations-gannett-bid-refigures-chicago-media-equation\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: Gannett bid refigures Chicago media equation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tribune<\/a>

<\/a> Tribune Tower<\/p><\/div>\n

Robservations on the media beat:<\/p>\n

The Michael Ferro<\/strong> era at Tribune Publishing<\/a> may be over sooner than anyone could have imagined. Just three months after the tech entrepreneur bought his way in<\/a> as board chairman of the Chicago Tribune <\/a>parent company, his exit appears inevitable thanks to an $815 million bid <\/a>for the company from Gannett, <\/a>made public Monday. If Gannett succeeds, as most analysts predict, gone would be Ferro\u2019s grandiose pronouncements about saving journalism and reinventing news. Gannett likely would replace words with actions \u2014 cutting expenses, slashing staff and operating \u201cmore efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>

Michael Ferro<\/p><\/div>\n

Other than bringing the Chicago Tribune under its banner, no one knows what Gannett would do with the rest of Tribune Publishing\u2019s portfolio in Chicago. It\u2019s a good bet the new owners would continue Chicago Tribune Media Group\u2019s six suburban dailies (Daily Southtown, Aurora Beacon-News, Elgin Courier-News, Naperville Sun, Lake County News-Sun and Northwest Indiana Post-Tribune) and 32 weeklies. But the future of other properties, including RedEye Chicago, Chicago magazine and the newly acquired <\/a>Splash, is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago<\/a>

Chicago Sun-Times<\/p><\/div>\n

One mile west of Tribune Tower at 350 North Orleans are the remnants of Ferro\u2019s last grand media venture, Wrapports, <\/a>which at this point includes the rival daily Sun-Times<\/a> and the alternative weekly Chicago Reader.<\/a> A Gannett deal for Tribune Publishing not only could bring an end to the Sun-Times\u2019s content partnership<\/a> with USA Today. It also could thwart the exit strategy of the Wrapports investment group. Until now it was assumed that Tribune Publishing would acquire the Sun-Times even if it meant keeping its editorial operations separate. Ferro told<\/a> the Tribune last month: \u201cI do see that someday, and why not?\u201d Now that\u2019s up for grabs too.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago<\/a>

Chicago Reader<\/p><\/div>\n

Longtime media critic Michael Miner<\/strong> must have read my mind when he weighed in<\/a> this week about an online petition<\/a> drive to \u201csave\u201d the Chicago Reader. (There were more than 2,900 signatures as of Tuesday morning.) The headline on his story said: \u201cDon't think of the Reader's public appeal as a negotiating gimmick,\u201d which is precisely how it looked at first glance. Efforts at the bargaining table have gone nowhere since the Reader\u2019s underpaid and overworked staff voted to join the Chicago News Guild<\/a> in January 2015. Calling out management has been a tactic for the union in past negotiations with the parent company of the Sun-Times. \u201cOwnership must invest in marketing, advertising, and digital operations and enrich editorial content, or the Reader will die,\u201d the petition states. Though they insist they have no secret stash of money, bosses dismiss reports of the weekly\u2019s impending demise. Said Jim Kirk,<\/strong> editor and publisher of Sun-Times Media: \u201cThe Reader remains a strong voice in the community, and we have every intention of keeping it that way despite the growing challenges all media companies face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/a>

Steve Darnall<\/p><\/div>\n

Steve Darnall,<\/strong> host and producer of \u201cThose Were the Days,\u201d has hit on a clever way to celebrate the 46th anniversary of the old-time radio showcase this weekend. He\u2019ll transform the show into a four-hour \u201crecord hop,\u201d playing a wide range of recordings from the past and spotlighting some of radio\u2019s greatest record-spinners (including an interview with Chicago broadcasting legend Bob Hale<\/strong>). Darnall also will feature a 1945 \"GI Jive\" program hosted by \"GI Jill,\" a 1944 disc jockey program hosted by Milwaukeean-turned-New Yorker Jack Bundy,<\/strong> and the great Al \"Jazzbo\" Collins<\/strong> in a dramatic role on \"X Minus One.\" \u201cThose Were the Days\u201d airs from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays on College of DuPage\u2019s\u00a0WDCB FM 90.9<\/a>\u00a0and on\u00a0wdcb.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Natasha<\/a>

Natasha Korecki<\/p><\/div>\n

Natasha Korecki,<\/strong> the veteran Chicago journalist whose Politico Illinois Playbook<\/a> is a daily must-read, was honored last week as Illinois Journalist of the Year by Northern Illinois University\u2019s<\/a> journalism program. Before joining politico.com<\/a> as senior political reporter last fall, Korecki was chief political writer and federal courts reporter for the Sun-Times. A University of Illinois graduate, Korecki previously worked as a reporter and legal affairs writer at the Daily Herald.<\/p>\n

\"Thomas<\/a>

Thomas Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

Some of us still remember him fondly as \u201cMajor Tom,\u201d the Chicago broadcasting jack of all trades \u2014 news anchor, traffic reporter, talk show host, rock jock and producer, among other roles. Now he\u2019s\u00a0Thomas Johnson<\/strong>\u00a0and he\u2019s just joined the executive staff of the\u00a0Better Business Bureau<\/a>\u00a0as director of public and board relations. Johnson most recently was director of business development for the Chicago City Treasurer\u2019s office. He also headed media relations for the Office of Emergency Management and the Chicago Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n

\"Dick<\/a>

Dick Rakovan<\/p><\/div>\n

Dick Rakovan<\/strong> isn\u2019t supposed to read this, but friends of the radio industry statesman want to get the word out about a gathering May 4 at Tortoise Club Restaurant, 350 North State Street. From 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., they\u2019ll be videotaping brief messages from his fans congratulating Rakovan on receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois Broadcasters Association.<\/a> A former general manager of WFYR and senior vice president of the Radio Advertising Bureau, Rakovan will be honored by the IBA June 14 in Champaign-Urbana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11211"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11237,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11211\/revisions\/11237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}