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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Daily News to Become Special Edition of the Inquirer
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 9:23 pm - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Community.
In a cost-saving move and an effort to boost circulation figures, the Philadelphia Daily News will soon be labeled as an edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The merger is detailed in a story on Philly.com by Daily News Senior Writer Dave Davies.
Philadelphia Media Holdings CEO Brian Tierney says the merger will allow the papers to share news wire services and to present the papers’ circulation as a larger total number to entice advertisers.
“Instead of telling advertisers we have 330, 00 circulation (at the Inquirer) plus the Daily News, it will help to say we have 440,000 daily circulation,” Tierney said.
The unique part of this merger is that other than the DN being labeled “an edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer,” nothing else really changes. The DN remains a tabloid that is published separately from the Inquirer. Also, both news staffs will remain separate and will continue to compete for stories. These latter two points are good for readers as well as the continuation of the fourth estate’s role as government watchdogs. The merger takes effect March 30.
The timing of this announcement comes a week after Philadelphia Media Holdings, the owner of both papers, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection.
So what do you think, does this merger sound to you like it will stem the tide of red ink at PMH headquarters?
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I’m a little confused by why this will be effective: Won’t advertisers still have to choose between placing ads in the Inquirer or the DN? Is PMH just trying to pull the blinds over advertisers’ eyes, hoping that advertisers won’t realize that the new circulation figure is just a combination of the circulations of two separate papers?
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Well, I’m sure this is just the first step in “consolidating” staff. Why have two journalists writing about the same story for both editions? I wonder how long it will take before Tierney to really start merging the operations.
What a disaster he and his group have been as owners.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Edward,
You’re completely right—as far as I understand from colleagues who have worked at either the Inquirer or Daily News, “consolidation” has taken place since long before the Chapter 11 filing. I’m not sure of the specifics, but the copy editing and photo desks have been covering each other’s territories to some degree since August.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:34 am
This labeling is required by The Associated Press in return for a lower rate for membership in the wire service. Instead of paying AP fees for two newspapers, PMH now pays the fees for one paper and gets to use it in two. That’s really the only change.
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
This all seems like re-arranging chairs….
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
The media is forever changing. Consolidating news is something a lot of publications/broadcasters are forcing themselves to do. For instance, I believe FOX & NBC (local) will be sharing all their content. So if you only see one camera person at an event, that actually counts for 2 stations! It’s another way of saving money instead of firing people.
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I got it. The Inky and DN should both become special print editions of Philly.com.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
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