Subtle change marks papers’ change of hands

    Although most readers probably will not notice, Inquirer, Daily News now tagged with “Philadelphia Media Network” as new owners take over papers.

    Readers of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News who glance at their copy of the paper may not notice a difference, but Philadelphia’s two major papers have a new owner.

    Sitting outside an Old City cafe enjoying the weather and chatting with his friends, Steve Kron saw that Friday’s Inquirer has the words “Locally owned and independent since 2006” near the top while a more recent edition says “Philadelphia Media Network” instead.

    But it’s something he said most people probably would not notice.
    “Most people turn to the funny pages almost immediately,” said Kron. “Or the sports page … (they) don’t pay very much attention to the design of the newspaper.”

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    Kron says he often just reads the paper online but shelled out 75 cents because he wanted to read about the baseball playoffs in the physical copy.

    A media business analyst at the Poynter Institute said he expects the new owners will focus on digital development.

    “I don’t think they’ll necessarily try to signal dramatic changes,” said Rick Edmonds, an analyst at the Poynter Institute and a former Inquirer employee. “And I don’t think it’s the case that they’re drastically unhappy with the editorial quality of the paper. I really do read them as wanting to develop the digital side more than changing the paper that people see every day.”

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