Two of Philadelphia's most popular daily newspapers have been sold to Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C. for $562 million, newspaper officials announced yesterday.
After 36 years of private ownership by Knight Ridder Inc. and two months by the McClatchy Co., The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Daily News -- as well as Philly.com and related websites -- will now be managed by a team of businessmen led by advertising executive Brian P. Tierney.
"This is an exciting time to be in the news business," said Chris Mills, Deputy Managing Editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "This new ownership presents tremendous opportunity for us to move in exciting new directions to benefit the community."
Former owner Knight Ridder Inc. was a publicly held owner that issued and sold newspaper stocks, thereby allowing virtually anybody to buy a share. In contrast, the new owner is a private group and therefore does not have to answer to other shareholders.
But this private ownership is getting mixed reviews from Philadelphia's newsrooms.
"Change is always difficult," said Inquirer City Editor Chris Hepp. "We're all kind of cautiously optimistic that this may be a move for the better."
Some of Tierney's plans for the future include more flexibility within the management, a stronger online representation, and a general betterment of the paper, according to Inquirer officials.
But reporters remain skeptical about how these plans will actually pan out.
A major concern by reporters is that there will be too much interference in the newsroom, said Inquirer reporter Jennifer Lin. As a result, the new owners had to sign a pledge promising that such interference would not occur.
"We're going to have to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they stick by the pledge," she said.
Still, no one denies that private ownership has its perks.
The demands from Wall Street that are inherent in a public company prevented the newspaper from reaching its fullest potential, officials say.
"There was a lot of pressure on the paper to satisfy Wall Street and to deliver quarterly profits that kept increasing," added Lin. "It affected our ability to cover the news."
And while reporters are adamant about not changing their personal approaches to news coverage and story-writing, many are excited about the leeway that Tierney's group promises to provide.
"These are all people that are born and raised here," Mills added. "They want to serve this news organization as best as they can."
Even local experts are seeing major perks behind the transaction.
"They're sacrificing some return for what they believe is in public interest," said Wharton professor Andrew Metrick, who noted that Tierney's group is unlike the other interested buyers because it is not solely interested in maximizing profit.
Metrick also pointed out that the buyers care not only about cash flow but about taking something that the entire community uses and improving it as well.
