A weblog for Pete Ellertsen's mass communications students at Benedictine University Springfield.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

COMM 150 in class: Who owns our hometown paper?

This exercise will give us some context for John Vivian's discussion of newspaper ownership trends (pages 0000 to 0000) and get us started on our classroom discussion ...

But first, we ought to read the post just below this one. I put it up Monday when I learned another newspaper bureau at the Illinois State Capitol is laying off a reporter. That, unfortunately, gives us some context on what's happening as well.

Here's the exercise. It's premised on the fact that you sit in front of the most powerful research tool known to humankind. I'll ask some questions. Some of the answers you probably know. Others you may not. Here they are:
1. The State Journal-Register is our hometown newspaper in Springfield. Who owns it?

2. Where are its owners from?

3. How are they doing financially?

4. What do Springfield, Peoria and Galesburg have in common?

5. What does this tell you about John Vivian's discussion of newspaper ownership trends and economics?
Post your answers as comments to this blog post.

31 comments:

Catch said...

1. The State Journal-Register is our hometown newspaper in Springfield. Who owns it? Gatehouse Media, Inc.

2. Where are the owners from? Fairport, NY

3. How are they doing financially? not well, but apparently their bosses get big bonuses http://peoriapundit.com/blogpeoria/2010/03/05/everything-about-gatehouse-media-sucks-except-if-youre-a-boss/

4. What do Springfield, Peoria and Galesburg have in common? They all have papers owned by the same company

5. What does this tell you about John Vivian's discussion of newspaper ownership trends and economics?

kdowis said...

1.) GateHouse Media Inc.
2.) Fairport, Ny
3.) They are not doing very well. In 2009 they had one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression.
4.) They all have daily newspapers that are owned by GateHouse Media, inc.
5.) It tells me that although the newspaper industry is larger than any other, that concept is slowing deteriorating because there are so many more effective, up to date news corporations.

RSeaver said...

The SJR newspaper is owned by GateHouse Media, led by Michael Reed. They have an office in New York but own local papers and shoppers in 17 states, many in Illinois, including Springfield, Peoria, and Galesburg publications. Publishing 90 daily newspapers, 289 weekly newspapers and 115 shoppers/other publications; I'd say they are doing pretty well financially.

RSeaver said...

Well, I see that I was wrong. They are losing quite a bit of business and aren't doing so well financially. This is proof that newspaper popularity is going down due to newer technology giving us more up-to-date news such as internet and television.

Tbock said...

1.) It is owned by Gatehouse Media
2.) Fairport, NY
3.)Springfield, Peoria & Galesburg have in common is the newspaper is all owned by Gatehouse
4.) Not the best since internet has taken such a huge part of peoples lives.
5.)Newspapers have been around for a while but they are now disappearing because of the internet and how quick people can communicate with each other now.

Cait131 said...

1. The State Journal-Register is our hometown newspaper in Springfield. Who owns it? -GateHouse Media.

2. Where are its owners from? - Fairport, New York.

3. How are they doing financially? - Not too well. They used to do a lot better, but lately it hasn't been going so good for them. Especially the last couple of years.

4. What do Springfield, Peoria and Galesburg have in common? -GateHouse Media owns all of their newspapers.

5. What does this tell you about John Vivian's discussion of newspaper ownership trends and economics? - It pretty much states that newspaper industries aren't doing so well because they are competing with all of the other resources that we get our information from, such as television and computers, those are two of the biggest ones.

AndrewColeman said...

1. Gate House Media owns the Sj-r.
2. Gatehouse is located in Fairport, New York.
3.They had the worst year since the turn of the Great Depression.
4. They all have a daily newspaper from Gate House Media.
5. The newspaper industry isn't doing too good competing with all the other industries.

AdamP said...

1. The State Journal-Register is owned by gatehouse media. Gatehouse media is a U.S. newspaper publisher, headquartered in Fairport, New York, that publishes 97 dailies in 20 states led by Michael Reed.
2. New York
3. GateHouse Media (GHS), had an estimated worth of around $59 million in 2006 and it has only decreased.
4. Springfield, Peoria and Galesburg all receive at least one of their newspapers from GateHouse Media.
5. Newspapers are becoming an outdated way to get up to date information.

Haleyobrien said...

1. GateHouse Media

2. Fairport, New York

3. They are struggling, and struggling more than most.

4. Gatehouse owns the State Journal Register, Peoria Journal Star, and The Register-Mail.

5. It tells you that newspapers are slowly getting replaced by new ways of getting news.

Kris10 said...

The State Journal Register is owned by Gate House Media. The owners are from Fairport, New York. As for financially this web page sort of explains it all just look from 2007 til 2009 the profit decrease http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=GHSE.PK+Balance+Sheet&annual. The three cities have in common that Gate House is their owner of their papers in each town. As for Vivian's discussion it tells me that newspapers are slowly becoming extinct and that newer technology is becoming more reliable for news purposes

RSeaver said...

Gatehouse is carrying a debt of $1.2 billion. That is nearly 10 times it's earnings and it's employees are facing many layoffs. I read that they can't compete with the internet nor have they found a way to effectively make significant amounts money on the internet. Many loccal newspaper are in the same boat since their are fewer people who would be interested in their web pages than the more abundant crowd that would seek out larger nationally circulated papers online.

Kayla said...

1) The SJR is owned by the Gatehouse Media, Inc.
2) Fairport, NY.
3) I believe they are not doing very good finacially.
4)All three if them have papers that are owned by the Gatehouse Media, Inc.
5)Newspapers are still very popular, but there are other ways to keep up on the news.

KristinJ said...

1. Gatehouse media
2. Fairport, NY
3. They are not doing well due to the economy.
4. Gatehouse owns all three of them
5. Newspapers have been around for a long time but due to all the new faster ways to communicate it has slowly become less needed in a way.

Pete said...

Pick a number between 1 and 3.

Post your answer as a comment to this blog post.

That's the quiz. Worth 25,000 extra credit points. Tell your classmates who aren't hear exactly what you did to get the extra credit.

Haleyobrien said...

TWO :) !!!!

Kris10 said...

3

RSeaver said...

I pick 2!

AdamP said...

1.9999999999999999999999

Tbock said...

2

Cait131 said...

2

Kayla said...

2 :)

kdowis said...

2 !!!!!




awesome quiz.
:)

Awilliams18 said...

2!

AndrewColeman said...

2

Gljudson91 said...

1) gatehouse
2) Fairport Ny
3)the are close to bankruptcy
4)they own daily newspapers, springfield, peroria, and galesburg
5) That even though many newspapers have a monoply they are still falling in profit most of them are close to bankruptcy

Gljudson91 said...

my favorite number is 3 so 3 lol yea boy

KristinJ said...

3!!

Pete said...

OK, time's up for the cheesy extra-credit quiz.

But if you weren't in class today, you can - and should - still do the exercise, i.e. look up GateHouse Media, read the business model on their website at <a href="http://www.gatehousemedia.com</a>. Local news media (content providers) have a type of niche market - in their case, the niche is geographical. GateHouse is in trouble financially, like newspapers everywhere. But if I had enough money to speculate in the stock market I'd consider buying GateHouse.

Katie Barling said...

1. GateHouse Media Inc.
2. Fairport, Ny
3. They have been struggling since the enconmic fall in 2003.
4. All owned by GateHouse Media.
5. Even though the Newspaper sells, they still have a diffcult time selling all their press.

Teriann said...

1) Gatehouse Media owns the State Journal Register.
2) The owners are from NY
3) They are in trouble financially.
4) They are all Gatehouse property.
5) Newspapers are not the only source of information these days, and not as many people read the paper since we have phone and internet.

kb said...

1. Gatehouse media, inc.
2. Fairport, ny
3. not doing well
4. newspapers are owned by the same company
5. There are new and better ways for people to get news.

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About Me

Springfield (Ill.), United States
I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home.