IS THE CAPITAL FOR SALE? INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW
With the demise of former Capital owner and publisher Phil Merrill by his own hand last year (gives new meaning to the term “news anchor“), it was not long for rumors to surface that our local newspaper is up for sale. Aaaggghhh rumors. They are but whispers of intrigue and speculation, but they are grist for the blogger’s mill. The large and supposedly highly profitable but privately-held local employer would be a real sweet cherry for Gannett or The Washington Post Company or some other larger and voracious media conglomerate to swoop in and swallow.
Lest there be any groundswell of gossip, CP would like to lay to rest here and now the very notion that it is leading a group of investors to purchase the august daily, which bills itself as America’s oldest newspaper. Although there may be a kernel of truth to that claim of longevity, there is no truth, absolutely no truth to the rumor that CP is either involved with purchasing the paper or has been tapped to become its new editor.
However, if there is a deep-pocket media mogul snooping around, CP would like to express its interest in joining the team so here it is now for all to see:
Savvy, hard-hitting, fire-in-the-belly, crackerjack reporter/editor with strong commitment to journalistic integrity and public service interested in making print or electronic media institution into pertinent, powerful player in the fourth estate. Inquire at www.capitalpunishment.blogspot.com . Our motto--“We fit all the news that we feel like fitting”
And just because The Capital always digs and snoops and reports about everyone else, this does not mean it will keep we the readers informed and updated as to its oh-so-private business dealings. CP promises to keep you abreast of the situation with up to the nanosecond coverage.
However, CP does wonder, what would it be like to run our local newspaper. What if CP really were in the editor’s desk?????? Let’s imagine the first day on the job….
“Okay, this is Ben Bradlee. Has anybody tracked down Woodward and Bernstein today? With so many damn parking garages in Annapolis, I don’t know where they are. And when they said something about Watergate, I heard the apartments have a new pool and club room…”
Okay. This would be more like it. CP would get on the newsroom intercom.
“This is the editor. I want Eric Smith and Joe Gross to clear out their offices, pack up and leave. You have 30 minutes. Next- no more stupid columns such as Dog World or Village Idiot. No more photos of kids getting their faces painted. From now on, any reporter who makes a serious factual mistake gets docked a day’s pay. Second time they are sent home for two days. Third time-they are fired. From now on, corrections and clarifications will be published in bold on the front page. We aim to show our readers that we are serious! No more free rides for advertisers when it comes to news coverage. We’re here to serve the people. Comics, Sudoku and Crosswords will all go into a Sunday weekly magazine. This paper is for news and commentary and a public forum. When political leaders and government official do well, we’ll recognize them, but woe to those public services who misuse their office. And finally, we’re scrapping Sports coverage. Instead we’re starting a whole new section to cover quality of life. In place of pages of photos of athletic all stars, we’ll have academic all stars. No more photos of girls in plaid dresses with field hocky sticks and mouth guards. Each and every day we’ll delve into news and features and opinions about whether our quality of life is improving or declining. Getting rid of sports is a good way to improve our quality of life. Instead we’ll cover fitness, health, disease, air and water quality. We’ll write about local food production, how to eat and live better and how to overcome addiction in our daily lives. We’ll explore the quality of school lunches, work to promote walking and bicycling and we’ll create a free classified section for carpooling and ride-sharing….
CP must be dreaming…..
Bay Daily on Hiatus
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Congratulations to Bay Daily creator, Tom Pelton, who has accepted a
position with another organization working to make the world a better
place. In his ab...
10 years ago
8 Comments:
You are one crazy SOB. Didn't you stop and think that maybe more people enjoy the softer side of news that can be found in the Capital instead of being assaulted with harcore in-your-face CNN-esque journalism that has completely inundated our society?
Dear Anonymous: CP is such a strong believer in preserving our rights of expression that CP publishes your inane comments, even though you cowardly remain anonymous, you attack CP ad hominem, and you don't make any sense. Calling CP a "crazy SOB" is just silly, especially when you consider that CP is neither anonymous or cowardly. After all, if you feel that CP has "completed inundated our society" why do you keep coming back for more? CP is beginning to suspect that "anonymous" may be a local newspaper writer. You are lucky that CP has enough decency to publish your nastiness. Write your own blog--if you dare! At the least, tell CP's readers something important or pertinent. (By the way--it is hardcore, not harcore)
We all know why you are especially upset today; you didn't get any mention in the front-page article about the political blogosphere.
And, yes, while it may seem cowardly to you, I do have a reputation to protect, so I choose to remain anonymous. That is my choice, just like it is your choice to either publish my "inane" commments or not.
Hmmm...here we go again. Your write "We all know...." Who are "we all"? We don't even know who you are, but you took the bait and by checking my web stats, CP now confirms who it thought you were all along! As far as your "reputation to protect" CP can only wonder what's to protect. And by the way, CP was mentioned in the front page article, which we knew about a few days ago. So, who are you talking about?
How much would it cost to purchase the Capital Newspaper ? With the internet growing I would think a small company with its own printing plant would be a diminishing asset.
CP has no idea what it would cost to purchase The Capital, but the figure would likely be more then ten million dollars, just to take a guess. As a private company, it does not have to provide documents about its financial situation to anyone. One can takes guesses by looking at sales of other newspapers, or inferring about ad revenues, or looking at the value of its real estate and printing presses, but that is not in CP's realm. Itis in all likelihood a profitable concern, as historically, smaller newspapers in the USA have been profitable. Besides, has the Post or Sun ever cracked the market here?
The internet is not likely to kill printing. Gutenberg's Press did not kill handwriting and the television did not kill radio. New inventions and technology transform in ways we could never have predicted, but do not necessarily always spell the end of what they are changing. The cost of newsprint may be a bigger factor. Have you ever seen the size of the rolls of paper they buy at The Capital? They have huge lifts just to move them on the presses. The New York Times apparently owns a forest in Canada to protect its pulp resources. And of course, The Capital is aggressively expanding its presence on the internet. Who knows? Thanks for the note.
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