New York Daily News and three NJ papers unionize their newsrooms - New York Post
New York Daily News and three NJ papers unionize their newsrooms - New York Post |
- New York Daily News and three NJ papers unionize their newsrooms - New York Post
- Nomination papers for election now available - Athol Daily News
- John Catsimatidis ponders another run at New York Daily News - New York Post
- Tribune Publishing, owner of New York Daily News, sold to hedge fund - New York Post
| New York Daily News and three NJ papers unionize their newsrooms - New York Post Posted: 11 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST  The New York Daily News owned by Tribune Publishing and three local dailies in New Jersey owned by the Gannett chain have unionized their newsrooms with the News Guild of New York. The three Gannett-owned papers include The Record of Bergen County, the Daily Record in Morris County and the NJ Herald in Sussex County. All three are banding together to form one bargaining unit, the Record Guild. "In fewer than five years Gannett has turned each into a shadow of their former selves," said Terrence McDonald, a reporter with The Record. The Guild said about 90 percent of the eligible employees opted for union representation at the Jersey paper and it has asked Gannett, to give voluntary recognition. Gannett, owner of USA Today and the largest newspaper chain in the country, had traditionally been anti-union. One of the largest newspapers in its chain, the Arizona Republic, unionized as Gannett was being taken over by Gatehouse Media in a $1.4 billion deal in 2019. In March, the company instituted pay cuts and furloughs and in December shed 500 employees via voluntary buyouts. The company said it recently renegotiated $1 billion in debt that Gatehouse parent company New Media Investment Group used to finance the takeover. Gannett had not returned a request for comment on the unionization of the three newsrooms. At the Daily News, where about 70 newsroom employees last week opted in for the union, it actually marks a return to the Guild, which previously represented the Daily News when it employed over 400 newsroom employees. At the time the union was known as the Newspaper Guild. Tribune had owned the paper until 1993 but after a Newspaper Guild strike, it was sold first to the Robert Maxwell, known as the bouncing Czech, and then to real estate developer Mort Zuckerman and his partner Fred Drasner. "We are asking Tribune Publishing, the News' parent company, to voluntarily recognize our union without delay," the Guild said in its mission statement, which said pay, benefits and diversity were all on the table. Tribune had not returned a call seeking comment. |
| Nomination papers for election now available - Athol Daily News Posted: 28 Feb 2021 01:18 PM PST  Staff Writer Published: 2/28/2021 4:12:39 PM Modified: 2/28/2021 4:12:38 PM Nomination papers for the Annual Town Election, to be held on May 17, are now available. They may be obtained at the Town Clerk's Office until Monday, March 29, at 5 p.m., or the Selectmen's Office. They must be returned by Monday, March 29, at 5 p.m. The last day to register to vote is April 27. The Town Clerk's Office is open on Mondays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Due to the present circumstances, the Town Hall is not open to the public. Please contact the Town Clerk at 978-724-6649; you can leave a message on the machine or email at petershamtownclerk@verizon.net. The following offices will appear on the ballot: ■Board of Selectmen — 3 years currently held by Henry Woolsey, ■Selectmen — 2 years, vacated by the passing of Fredrik Marsh, ■Tax Collector — 3 years, currently held by Renee Wingertsman, ■Town Clerk — 3 years, currently held by Diana Cooley, ■Board of Assessors — 3 years currently held by Dana Kennan, ■Board of Health — 3 years currently being filled by Rebecca Jackson (appointed), ■Petersham School Committee — 3 years currently held by Jennifer DeJackome, ■Planning Board — two three-year seats currently held by Stephen Herzog and Irene Perkins and ■Trustees of Public Library — 3 years currently held by Fifi Scoufopoulos. Dana Kennan has declared that he will retire from the Board of Assessor's after 20-plus years |
| John Catsimatidis ponders another run at New York Daily News - New York Post Posted: 25 Feb 2021 02:02 PM PST Enlarge Image  "If they offer it to me, and the price is right, I'll buy it," John Catsimatidis told Media Ink Feb. 25, 2021. Matthew McDermott Panicked supporters of the New York Daily News are desperately searching for a local billionaire to save the 101-year-old tabloid from the clutches of Alden Global Capital, Media Ink has learned. Sources say people close to the paper scanning their rolodexes for potential buyers have reached out to supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis. And Catsimatidis, the owner of Gristedes supermarket and an ex-NYC mayoral candidate, reached by Media Ink on Thursday, seemed at least open to the possibility. "If they offer it to me, and the price is right, I'll buy it," Catsimatidis told Media Ink on Thursday. "We're buyers of properties, and that is standard operating procedure on any deal." He declined to say if he's had any contact with Tribune, however. "I can't say," he said. Alden, a New York-based hedge fund headed by Heath Freeman with a reputation for deep cuts at papers it buys, is in the midst of a $630 million bid to gain full control of Tribune, which also owns the Chicago Tribune, the Hartford Courant, the Orlando Sentinel and other papers. Alden, which currently owns 32 percent of Tribune, has struck a deal up its stake to 100 percent in a bid to take the company private. Under the deal, which still requires shareholder approval, Alden would pay $17.25 per share in cash, or $431 million, for the 68 percent of the company that it does not already own. Tribune and Alden have, however, shown a willingness to divest properties at the right price, including the Baltimore Sun and other Maryland papers like the Capital Gazette, which will be going to a non-profit headed by hotelier Stewart Bainum, head of the Choice Hotels International. The price tag on that non-binding proposed spinoff is $63 million. Catsimatidis famously passed up a chance to buy the Daily News from then-owner Mort Zuckerman in 2015 in part because Zuckerman wanted to unload the pension liabilities owed to the drivers and pressmen as part of the deal. The liabilities were said to be approaching $200 million. Today, the liabilities are estimated to be a still hefty $100 million. Two years later, Tribune paid $1 for the floundering paper, which was reportedly losing millions. The News is still believed to be losing millions and its print version, once the biggest-selling US daily post-World War II, no longer ranks among the nation's top 10 papers by daily circulation. "We have high anxiety," said one Daily News insider. Catsimatidis has had a stormy relationship with Daily News over the years, at one point pulling ads and banning its sale in Gristedes and D'Agostino stores following a story the paper did on supermarkets. He's since made up with the paper, which sells in his stores. Complicating any move is whether Catsimatidis will make another run for mayor in the Republican primary. "I think I have to make a decision in the next few weeks," he told Media Ink about any potential mayoral aspirations. |
| Tribune Publishing, owner of New York Daily News, sold to hedge fund - New York Post Posted: 16 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST  Tribune Publishing, parent company of the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune, has been acquired by its largest shareholder, Alden Global Capital, which will take the publicly traded company private in a deal valuing Tribune at $630 million. Given Alden's history as a slasher of staffs, the deal has stirred fears in newsroom throughout the company. "Absolutely terrible news," tweeted Gregory Pratt, president of the Chicago Tribune News Guild. "We will continue to fight for our newsroom and our city no matter what happens next. But @chicagotribune needs local ownership with a civic conscience. We are now at the opposite extreme." The definitive agreement was announced late Tuesday. Leading up to the deal, Alden held 31.6 percent of the publicly traded stock and had been negotiating to buy the rest of the company in a bid to take the company private. The deal means that Alden will pay $17.25 per share in cash, or $431 million, for the 68 percent of the company that it does not already own. Philip Franklin, Tribune board chairman and a member of the special committee negotiating the sale, said, "Over the past year, the company has taken a number of actions to adapt to an ever-changing business and industry environment, including the impact of COVID-19." He said the price the special committee negotiated "was superior to the available alternatives." As part of the deal, Tribune has agreed to sell the Baltimore Sun to the Sunlight for All Institute, a not-for-profit charity founded by local businessman Stewart Bainum, Jr., chairman of the Choice Hotel chain. Alden, a private equity firm, is known as a vicious cost cutter that will take over newspapers and sell off the coveted real estate in downtown cities to finance its debt. In the latest deal, much of the real estate for the seven newspaper chain has already been sold off. "Alden has a history of running newspapers into the ground," said national News Guild president Jon Schleuss. "This isn't good for workers, the company, shareholders or the communities." Many of the papers that vacated their offices in the face of the pandemic have been told that they will never be returning to a newsroom. That includes the Daily News, the Hartford Courant, the Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., and the Capital Gazette, which was the site of a deranged gunman attack in June 2018 that resulted in five people being killed inside the Annapolis, Md., newsroom. About 70 employees at the Daily News recently said they wanted to unionize with the News Guild, which already represents several other papers in the chain. They petitioned the Tribune to voluntarily recognize the union as the bargaining agent for the remaining journalists at the paper which has undergone steep cuts over the past two years. In 2018, Tribune slashed half of the newsroom staff at the New York City tabloid. Alden Global, headed by Heath Freeman, is already the majority owner of Digital First Media and the Media News Group, which owns the Orange County Register, the Denver Post, the Boston Herald and other papers which have undergone deep cuts since being taken over by Alden. The other papers in the Tribune chain includes two Florida dailies; the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel; and two papers in Virginia, The Newport News and the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. |
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