The hot topic at 215 South McDowell St. in Raleigh last week was — surprise — the big newspaper deal.
In a fish-swallows-whale imitation, the McClatchy Co. agreed to buy Knight-Ridder Inc. for $6.5 billion. Knight-Ridder owns 32 daily newspapers, including The Charlotte Observer. McClatchy owns 12, including The N&O.
A newspaper acquisition may seem like inside baseball to most of you, but there is at least one important implication for North Carolina readers. The combination will bring under common ownership the two largest newspapers in North Carolina (and the largest in South Carolina, Columbia, as well). So let’s explore whether the deal is good or bad for Tar Heel readers.
We’ll start with the readers. I surveyed a number of you, and the response was mixed — and thoughtful. Here are a few comments:
“We’ve had two fine newspapers following independent leads on political, cultural, business and investigative stories that impact our state. When two sets of eyes, ears and noses for news get reduced to one set of reporters and ‘streamlined’ editorial oversight, we and our democracy will suffer.” — Terry Grunwald, Raleigh.
“I am sure that appropriate steps would be taken to insulate the editorial side of the paper from the business side. As long as that happens, I don’t see any problem.” — Robert Bogle, Pittsboro.
“I trust The N&O to keep us all (I’m a state employee) honest and aware that our actions are subject to public scrutiny. I was in a meeting lately where someone said, of a decision being considered, ‘Would it pass The N&O test?’ If a purchase doesn’t compromise that, it’s OK with me.” — Jean DeSaix, Chapel Hill.
“I think there is so much competition in the media and so many outlets that seek to satisfy every taste (liberal, conservative, hawks, doves etc.) that it is not worrisome to have a company buy up the state papers. If the new owners do a poor job with the news coverage, a competitor will arise to challenge them.” — Kathryn Estrada, Raleigh.
That last comment is the key point that was made by N&O management last week in discussions with employees. Publisher Orage Quarles III told news staffers that he expected them to remain as fiercely competitive with The Observer as they always have been. McClatchy has said that there will be no layoffs resulting from the acquisition.
Still, there was some dubiousness among journalists I talked to at both papers. Their worry: that pressures for efficiency could result in changes such as combining the two papers’ state Capitol staffs, combined coverage of ACC sports or merger and shrinking of the McClatchy and Knight-Ridder Washington bureaus. McClatchy has 11 in its bureau; Knight-Ridder, with 29, is regarded as the most aggressive news organization in covering the Bush administration’s Iraq policy.
There was concern also that, even if none of those fears come about, reduced competition would take an edge off the reporting by the two papers. Will The N&O and The Observer continue, for instance, their aggressive beat-the-other-paper coverage of the Jim Black scandal?
One response offered by N&O editors is that combined Capitol coverage could actually free up reporters to do more in-depth, investigative and project reporting. That’s the view also of long-time newspaper watcher Phil Meyer, who spent his career at Knight-Ridder papers before becoming a journalism professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. “Duplication isn’t the same thing as competition,” he said. “By eliminating some of the duplication, the company should be able to put more into reporting. I would expect to see more state-level investigative reporting.”
Meyer is enthusiastic about the acquisition: “I think it will be good for The Charlotte Observer,” he said. “It should halt The Observer’s long, slow decline. It’s a lot thinner than it used to be.”
One of Meyer’s colleagues, Hodding Carter III, wasn’t as sanguine. Carter is a former Mississippi newspaper owner and one-time CEO of the Knight Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Knight-Ridder, who now teaches public policy at UNC. He said he accepts the assertions of McClatchy executives that jobs will be protected, but he wonders if that will hold in the next economic downturn or when the current McClatchy leadership turns over. “All combinations for business reasons have to rationalize their work product,” he said. Management will ask, “Why should we duplicate up in Washington? Why should we duplicate in Raleigh? Why wouldn’t it be more rational to consolidate our operations?”
My own opinion: I think readers have something to be concerned about whenever there’s newspaper consolidation, especially when it involves the state’s two largest papers. Yes, The N&O and The Observer have separate markets. Yes, McClatchy has a history of providing autonomy to its local newspaper managers. Yes, editorial page voices will remain separate.
But the competition has yielded important benefits to North Carolina. One reason this state long has been regarded as a clean-government place is because those in power have been watched — more so than in most states — by several good newspapers. The two biggest, The N&O and The Observer, have been the engines that drive most of the North Carolina news that you get from television, radio, the Associated Press and the Internet, because those media have small or no reporting staffs. “Now you have the two biggest getting into bed with each other,” said Rob Christensen, N&O political reporter. (Christensen wasn’t criticizing the deal but reflecting the questions being raised.)
I think McClatchy ownership will be good for The Observer, as Meyer says, and won’t hurt The N&O, at least in the short run. But over the long term, readers should watch how this plays out and hold our feet to the fire to make sure there’s no lessening of competition between the papers and no deterioration of the quality journalism that the papers, separately owned, have given you over the years. As Hodding Carter says: “Show me the money. Let’s see what happens.”
