I hope the left wing bias will be removed an fairness in reporting will be returned. We have not had news from the paper, radio, or tv, we had propaganda.

This will make 08/14/2014 even more important. Nielsen's ratings for radio will be released.

Journal Communications shares are up 25% and EW Scripps shares are up 10% this morning on news of the deal.

KNS will be out of business in three years. This was a needed move by Scripps. Well played.

I don't know any more than anyone else, but unless I get smacked by a truck, I plan to be publishing Shopper-News three years from now -- bigger, better and stronger.

Wow. After about 140 years Scripps will no longer be in the newspaper business. I wonder how long the new entity, Journal Media, will survive with daily newspapers.

Companies must adapt. It's hard to watch but we will all adapt. How long before young people will not have experienced a hard copy newspaper? 10 years?

Unfortunately, young people won't miss a hard copy daily newspaper. I have 2 children in their 20's. Neither lives at home anymore, but during the years they did at least one newspaper came through the door every single day. Neither child so much as glanced at it. This doesn't mean they're ill informed, however. They just get their news from other sources. They're also not interested in local news.

For the time I've been in the industry, change has been the nature of things. And guess what? It's been the case for as long as there's been media. Radio was supposed to kill papers. Then TV. Then the Internet. But guess what? None of those things killed the journalist.

As these things go (and I've witnessed these things go in every paper where I've worked), the people working there get ruffled and so do the readers. And yeah, there are staffing changes. But the attention given tells me two things: the journalism done (which is what we call it on a good day) matters to the people, and the people who read it care. Or maybe they just care about the community where they're living. And this is no sad ode to journalists. Blech. People will care about journalism as long as they care about where they live. Is it perfect? No. Is the delivery of news perfect? No. But that's why we do what we do.

Gerald Garcia, the Gordon Gekko of the newspaper industry. Ah, memories. In days of old, when reporters were bold, and Gerald was still an ass.

I worked for the KJ in zones before I got called to active duty for the Gulf War. When I came back, he didn't want to put me back on.

In his office, I politely reminded him of his legal obligations under the ESGR. I got my job back...for a year, anyway, til Gerald and Persis killed the Journal, and snuck $40 million outta town.

I wouldn't expect many wholesale changes until after the deal closes next year. Unless maybe there's some window dressing here and there to get shareholders on board.

Sandra Right about now the best you can hope for is a guest editorial in the Farragut Press.

Good one, anonymous person.

Don't forget, I bought a newspaper when I was 23, mortgaging my partner's house, and have been self-employed ever since, buying out my partner in 6 months. Country girl will survive.

Hard copy newspapers going the way of AT&T and landlines. Times change.

I, like my colleagues, got word of this development in a 9:15 p.m. email. The news had already broken before it hit the inbox. And here were my thoughts: For 25 years, the newspaper business has been my life and my passion. I came to it by way of a finance degree I hated, and a job opening at my Sevierville hometown paper. They took a chance on me and here I am a quarter century later. In that time, I’ve seen the work of my colleagues change law, expose corruption and shed light on the darkness. They’ve gone to meetings so you don’t have to. They’ve stood out in the freezing cold at crime scenes so you don’t have to. They’ve been berated, criticized, even threatened. It’s what they and I are paid to do. Like the cops say, it’s the job. My greatest achievement was way back in the 1990s when my work led to two new laws – one making it a crime to rape a child or an adult knowing you had an infectious disease, the other requiring testing for such diseases and notice to the victims. It pales in comparison though to the work of my colleagues – Don Jacobs making Tim Hutchison dread his name; Scott Barker, Rebecca Ferrar and Hayes Hickman unmasking Black Wednesday; Matt Lakin leading to legislation through his reporting of two drug epidemics folks seemed to be ignoring; Frank Munger owning like no one before or after Oak Ridge nuclear reporting; Tom Humphrey, no words for that legend; Megan Bohnke revealing the chemical cesspool at Knoxville College; Lydia McCoy unearthing the problems with Union County’s experiment in virtual school; Kristi Nelson’s health reporting; Tony Hernandez on the city beat; Gerald Witt on the county beat; Jim Balloch and his heart for missing person cases; Josh Flory, Ed Marcum and Carly Harrington for amazing business coverage; Morgan Simmons, the literal outdoor guru; Cari Gervin and her kick ass and take names reporting; Sandra Clark and Betty Bean and all the others at the Shopper News; sports guys, copy editors, photographers, entertainment, features and online staff. And news doesn’t even get to you without our advertising, press room, human resources, tech support and, yes, those editors you love to hate. All those folks woke up this morning with the gut-wrenching news that our professional world is about to change and we have no idea what the future holds. You know what these folks did? They went to work this morning. I have never been so proud of my collegues at KNS, Metro Pulse and Shopper News.

FWIW, I do bitch sometimes about the Sentinel's reporting and especially its editing, but I am also aware that much of what I find missing is due to personnel who are way, way over-extended.

I've been a KNS subscriber since the 1980s. And I sure would hate to see it close its doors (or MP or the Shopper, for that matter). This town needs newspapers, flawed tho they may be.

Any of you guys who think you can do it better are free to start your own papers.

There are a number of strong newspaper groups, chains, and organizations, in my opinion Scripps and KNS just happen to be one which is not very strong financially, journalistically, nor intrisically connected to the community, the newspaper readers who look to inform themselves, or the rank and file advertisers who populate the business community.

The Scripps and KNS newspaper product began to decline in quality, objectivity, and in its news judgment several years ago. The most glaring journalistic embarrassments with the Timmy Burchette divorce, the lack of attention to the Pilot Travel Centers investigation, the coverup for the Knoxville Chamber's futile and amateurish efforts at business recruitment and relocation to Knoxville and Knox County didn't just happen this year, they've been baked into the Scripps newspaper budgets, revenue models, and front line publisher and editorial expectations which was translated into the KNS news judgment, the objectivity presented in its coverage, and the wholesale absence of any investigative reporting at all levels of local government. Victor Ashe was given a free pass by the KNS while he mired the city in a grandiosity of mediocrity and irrelevance to the East Tennessee economy, spending tens of millions in pointless and useless bright shiny objects, gadgets, plans, studies, and gizmos to trap tourist dollars, while businesses and for profit employers (even the KNS) packed it in and left downtown for greener pastures away from the traditional city core.

You don't see the Tribune, Gannett, or Lee Enterprises newspapers bundled up and flushed to Milwaukee, even Warren Buffett has been purchasing well written, well respected newspapers which are a component of a communities social and topical fabric, characteristics none of which have been exhibited by the KNS for more than a decade. All these newspapers within these organizations have had economic and revenue model challenges to the nth degree, but their business managers, their editors, and their publishers stuck to their primary objective of informing their audience of the workings of their local government, their local employers, and the other happenings in their community. The KNS abandoned this role years ago, preferring to look to shape the news, shape or short circuit the political careers of a number of local politicians, and carry their agenda and their friendly and cozy alliances well into the public operation of government, a role journalists are not truly trained for and career objectives completely inconsistent with journalistic standards and expectations of the truly successful American newspapers and news media properties.I'm not sure what Journal's KNS, MetroPulse, or Shopper will look like in 24 months, but if they can't get back to the basics, start asking some of the tougher questions around the city county building and among the "public private" partnerships which pollute the Knoxville and Knox County community, it won't matter, the clean balance sheet and the $10 million cushion aren't there to support the KNS tried and true baffoonery and laughable journalistic mettle demonstrated for the past 10 - 15 years in the Knoxville community. Don't blame it on the Knoxville Journal, blame it on Scripps newspapers and the editors and publishers that it placed in these most important roles for the past 25 years.

And in breaking news, at the top of the knoxnews website this morning we learn a Knoxvillian was thrown off of Big Brother.

Nothing else to say.

Total class, Jamie! Extremely well said! I wish the best for all of you. You were valued colleagues!

Scripps will retain 59 percent of the new Journal Co., so it's not exactly getting out of the newspaper business.

OK, what we have here is exactly what the radio industry had about 10 years ago when Howard Stern went on Satellite radio and internet radio started taking off at the same time. For a while everyone looked at the business model of AM/FM radio and swore up and down that "terrestrial radio" was dead. For a while it sure did look that way. Then to make matters worse the music industry pushed hard to try to eliminate near royalty free airplay...

So what happened. Basically, the industry woke up, got more ingrained into the community and survived. The radio industry really formed a strong bridge with the touring industry (where the real money in music is now)and now everyone is winning.

That brings me to another business model that has evolved. The music industry. It has not died...it has strongly evolved. Reality, a hit song that in 1986 would have gotten you a new Corvette, and a nice house...will now make you $86.00 That is right, less then a hundred dollars...

So what happened? It has evolved. Now the industry charges more for music festivals and grabs greater sponsorship money from high profile companies and then broadcasts the concerts free to the world...Don't believe me or get it..

Here, today if you go to this link below you will see Lollapallozaa
https://www.redbullsoundselect.com/events/2014/08/lollapalooza-livestream

OK so now we have saved the radio and have saved the music industry but who the heck is going to save the News industry...note I did not say newspaper industry...

Good question! Yup, I got an answer for that. Two weeks ago the Society of Profession Journalists didn't even have a digital committee. Seriously! So a group of tech focused journalists got together and are working around the clock to do basically what the radio industry did and what the music industry did...use technology that is suppose to kill the industry to literally make it thrive and survive...

(link...)

Some of the technology we are starting to explore and incorporate can be found here...

(link...)

First off to the anonymous comment above, one reason why you don't see hard hitting journalistic investigations is because to be honest journalists cannot be trusted! We got the possibility of being spied on. More realistically and locally someone you might tell a secret to today, might be working in the City County Building for your boss tomorrow. Seriously, how many high level journalists have gone to work for the dark side?

So, how do we fix that? One thing that we as journalists are actively working on are secure very very hard to trace "
secure drop boxes."

If we as a journalist community can get it so that people can trust technology and truly submit things anonymously...and can't get caught well that will give journalists a way to safely investigate stories without the threat of revealing their source! True plausible deniability!

Again, the industry is evolving...
According to Forbes an estimated 20,000,000 Kindles were sold last year!

People still want content!

Yes, we as a journalist community must evolve! We MUST adapt. Finally, we really need to wake up and save ourselves. Much like radio did. I find it mind blowing that we have our local news outlets literally saving everything and everyone else and not concentrating on our core industry. I mean we go passionately for Dancing with the Stars, the Golf Open, Habitat, and yes that is awesome and that needs to be done...but seriously, we really need to invest in our core product. Have some major fundraisers to strengthen the local journalist community like ETSPJ (East Tn Society of Professional Journalists) but also organizations like Education Writers Association. At the same time organizations like ETSPJ must continue to be at the vanguard of making the latest and best practices that will enable our industry to thrive and adapt. Again, the clarion bell has rung!
Trust me I am practicing what I am preaching. To be honest my future employment depends on it :)
Thank you,
Dan
PS...please note the statements listed above are mine and mine only. They do not represent any group, work, association, or anyone other then me.

What I see is a "Consumer Reports" style of journalism taking wave in the future. People pay for Consumer Reports to be free of special interests. People also pay for the Wall Street Journal which has ads but the ads are targeted for the business community.

So if you "narrow band" your service you can find a buying niche.

Look, people will pay for information they want. But if the news industry is going to charge patrons for the service then they really got to bring their cost per reader down...However, that is actually happening. When I first looked at blogger insurance it was like $4,000 three years ago...I got a good quote recently for about $425 four hundred... Reality, is as I wrote we are in an evolving time period.

We as a journalism community are in the golden age of real journalism. Look at Politico Pro, look at Scotus Blog...look at this blog! The webmaster is not a fortune 500 company. However, almost every power player in town reads this blog daily! Randy you have gained a huge following, a ton of respect, and a strong influence in the community! At the end of the day, a great product is a great product!

Reports of the news media death, has been greatly exaggerated by the news media!

Dan Andrews...

again these thoughts are my own but as someone who is literally seeing first hand the positive changes and the great things that are happening in the news media I really felt strongly compelled to offer a different view from a different perspective. As I have noted I am Vice President of the East Tn Society of Professional Journalists. If your a reporter who would like to be part of the solution, I encourage you to join our organization. We are doing some amazing things and will do even more amazing things as we grow!

Thank you,
Dan

I've been an active Sentinel reader since the late 1960's. I haven't always subscribed but I manage to read it several times a week even when I don't. Like a waxing and waning moon, the quality, over the years, comes and goes. In a lot of ways, that is to be expected.

I've also had the opportunity, through visits to relatives, to read the Milwaukee papers down through the years. I've often noted the Knoxville papers could learn a thing or two from the way they were run.

It's no secret to news hounds that the Sentinel is understaffed. It's no secret to the reporters that a lack of corporate competition hurts ones ability to gather news. It should be no secret to anyone that the overriding attitude of those in charge in this town is "Let's keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit."

I see this as a glass half full situation. I signed up for a year. What the hell, right? It's only money. I'm gambling that the new corporate overlords will make sure my kid's name is spelled right.

The KNS abandoned its commitment to news when it put an advertising exec in charge of the newsroom (Hartmann) and hired a puppet editor (McElroy). Since that time, journalists have been viewed as a necessary evil and a drain on profits. This being said, some decent reporting still gets through, but less and less. Many stories appear to be placed by Moxley. The KNS allegiance to the cult of Haslam has been nothing short of embarrassing.
I actually find more news in the Shopper than in the daily.
However, the KNS is not on the rocks by a long shot. It controls local print advertising and has a massive side business in printing, much of it still unrealized. The KNS is a cash cow for its owner, whoever that may be.
The recent reorganization was done, I believe, partly to unhinge broadcasting profits but also to skirt FCC rules about newspaper/radio media monopoly (weakened but still potentially troublesome). Three major companies, three media platforms, print, radio, TV.

" lack of corporate competition hurts ones ability to gather news."

We have plenty of competition in this town. Look at the investigative team at WATE. Perfect example, you got a true journalist like Samantha Manning busting awesome stories wide open that nobody else will touch. I mean seriously, you got Don Dare, who literally battles week in and week out with alleged fraudsters, fakes, and just bad people. I mean seriously? No competition? We live in a town that has awesome competition.

The only department in KNS that has no competition is the "property section." To be honest, Josh Flory literally does such an amazing job, I mean so amazing, that nobody bothers to touch it.
I mean seriously, I do sit in on the occasional Better Building Board, MPC, and other meetings, however, no chance in heck am I going to waste 10 seconds of my day trying to compete with that guy. He literally has it down to an awesome science. It is in my mind the toughest most complicated beat to cover. Permits, appeals, possible buyers, actual buyers, foreclosure, and a ton of other crazy factors. Plus much of it is behind closed doors in the private sector, so you really have to have a strong and I mean a real strong list of trusted contacts!..
Again, we have plenty of corporate competition

The reports of the death of KNS have been greatly exaggerated. As has been pointed out, they got a big hunk of iron(SOTA printing press) that has to pay for itself over the next how many years people still want to kill trees to distribute information.

The demand for news has only increased in the age of handheld communications devices. As long as people want news it won't be free. The readers just don't want to pay for the cost of printing (dead trees) and delivering(carbon fuels) news.

There will be a huge consolidation in news gathering outlets over the next ten years. This will create more competition when about three news outlets, just like the old ABC, NBC, CBS, will control news gathering. They will license their content to the then consolidated, service providers and every one will pay 20 bucks a month for all the news they want and those two or three new combines that control everything will make enough money to survive and sell their shares on the stock market to folks who beleive that people will always want to know what's going on in the world.

But not others.

In the dead tree version only a few days ago, editor's son back in jail. They brag about how fair and balanced they are, but they aren't.

(link...)

Following in the footsteps of E.W. Scripps Gannett announces the concentration of digital media and the orphaning of newsprint. Gannett is kind enough to accomplish this spin-off by not encumbering the sick paper company with debt. Thus the print business will be well situated to gobble up other papers (or, perhaps, digital properties).

Read the story from the New York Times here:

(link...)

Best comment so far in relation at the Times story of Gannett news spin?

"Gannett spinning off its print business? Stands to reason. I'm old enough to remember the 1990s, when it closed down its journalism business." superf88

And they'll leave it headquartered with the rest of the vast Gannett media conglomerate over in McLean, Virginia, they won't flush their newspapers all the way to Milwaukee.

I hope KNS editors and publishers like Miller Beer, Brats, and doggedly cold winters, because the fun runs to Ohio and the HGTV cover provided in Cincinnati is going away.