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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Morning Call Biggest Biz in the NIZ

Back in June, I suggested that The Morning Call's location in the middle of NIZland might have some impact on its coverage, especially since I had just heard that developer J.B. Reilly was talking to the newspaper about leasing some of its vacant office space. I'm still waiting to hear from the newspaper's public relations guru on that one. A paper that is supposedly all about transparency in government is strangely reticent to answer questions about its own operations.

Now that the Preliminary Offering Statement for the NIZ bonds has finally been released, there have been two Morning Call articles about it. One points to a real lousy bond rating for the project. The other reports predictions that it will create 7,500 jobs, almost overnight.

Neither article bothers to inform you, however, that the Preliminary Offering Statement lists The Morning Call as the biggest business inside the NIZ, with 207,615 sq. ft. of rentable space. It is also the third highest taxpayer.

More office space than anyone else inside the NIZ, as well as a good tax base. It's pretty clear to me that the paper is considering its options. After all, it's in business to make money.

There's some question whether it's still in business to report news. Its Sunday paper has been coming out on Saturday as a "Sunday Early Edition" over the past three weeks. Blogger Michael Molovinsky has likened its content-free Monday paper to a "grade school Weekly reader."
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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2012 at 6:20 AM

    Bernie,

    The Call is listed as one of five major companies in the NIZ Zone, if any one of these companies leaves or goes out of business "that would have a negative impact on revenues". How sound is the paper's future? is it really a safe bet?

    Scott Armstrong

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2012 at 8:44 AM

    The NIZ might be the only saving grace for the Morning Call, whose business model is broken.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2012 at 10:56 AM

    The Morning Calls parent corporation is in bankruptcy reorganization -- at some point
    assets may be sold off.

    The Express Times parent corporation would love to have the complete news franchise from just west of the Susquehanna clear to their eastern territory in the NJ counties east of the Deleware. They would accomplish this by buying the MCall.

    The Express Times would like to have the MCalls Allentown printing facility, regardless of the NIZ.
    The speculation among media watchers is the MCalls going on the block. How soon?

    The question for the Express Times, or any buyer, is how much money losing capacity and dept comes along with the deal?

    The future of the MCall is anything but secure. The future for a viable newspaper might just improve after its sale or demise. How it's Allentown facilities fares is far from settled.

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  4. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2012 at 11:07 AM

    Bloger Michael Molovinsky made that statement, then strangely defended the Morning Call from all critiicism.

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  5. Bernie O'HareSeptember 11, 2012 at 11:10 AM

    I suspect blogger MM made the statement, and then defended his blog against ignorant commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2012 at 11:53 AM

    Yes. And insightful commentary as well.

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  7. Bernie O'HareSeptember 11, 2012 at 11:55 AM

    If you consider personal attacks aimed at him instead of the issue are insightful, you must roll around the floor and foam at the mouth pretty often.

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  8. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2012 at 12:24 PM

    Allentown is Kabul with fewer English speakers. It's a war zone that people are not going to risk for the reward of viewing minor league hockey. This is the elephant in the room. The NIZ is the biggest transfer of wealth to already filthy rich guys in Allentown's sordid history.

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  9. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2012 at 1:52 PM

    Forget about the E-T buying the Call. Their owners are cutting their print editions at many of their papers, including the vaunted New Orleans Times-Picayune and Harrisburg Patriot, to 3 day a weeks.

    The only ones buying newspapers these days are Warren Buffet and a couple of hedge fund managers. Buffett is a believer who will be proven wrong, and the hedge fund guys will milk and then go bankrupt or divest piecemeal.

    What you will probably see is Tribune, if and when they ever get out of bankrutpcy (a new challenge was just allowed by the BK judge), sell off the real estate and then lease their space back.

    -Clem

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  10. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2012 at 11:45 AM

    I was always a loyal MCALL reader -- 50 years. It is such a poor newspaper that I almost never buy it and find reading it a pathetic exercise.
    It's really terrible. How can it ever come back when those most sympathetic to print news find it insulting?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Christina GeorgiouSeptember 14, 2012 at 6:31 AM

    I'm not sure these publishers aren't a little over-optimistic, but this came out yesterday:
    http://jimromenesko.com/2012/09/13/survey-u-s-publishers-optimistic-about-future-of-newspapers/

    Of course, I don't think publishers (who aren't the real bosses of news in most cases anymore, with nearly every newspaper being owned by some huge conglomorate) are likely to publicly come out and say, "Yeah, paper editions are dead in the water" either, even if it may be true.

    BTW, Anon 8:44, it's not just the MC--the business model for every news outlet that relies on print on paper is broken. What the new model for print news has been the matter of industry debate and up in the air for nearly a decade.

    Though one thing that is right about that survey is, the smaller papers are generally in much better shape than the bigger ones.

    ReplyDelete

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