Herald Publisher Pat Purcell just announced the sale of paper to GateHouse Media - and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of the Herald, Herald business reporter Bob McGovern reports. Purchase price: $4.5 million.
Gatehouse already owns many of the newspapers left in Massachusetts, including the Worcester Telegram, the MetroWest Daily News and the Quincy Patriot Ledger, and often make dramatic staffing cuts as it centralizes production and reporting in locations often far from the communities its newspapers cover.
Boston will remain one of the few American cities left with two competing daily newspapers, although it will now lose the distinction of having two locally owned daily newspapers.
The Herald once owned many of the suburban papers that now make up GateHouse's holdings in eastern Massachusetts. The Herald sold them off for $225 million in 2006.
McGovern adds:
Red eyes in the newsroom. Hung heads.
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Comments
Wow!
By Brian Riccio
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 3:48pm
Could this mean the end for such forward thinkers as Adriana Cohen and Tom Shattuck?
What will become of Howie Carr now that Pat Purcell isn't around to make excuses for having a blatant racist on the paper?
The mind reels!
Need a Job?
By johnmcboston
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 5:07pm
CVB reports that everyone will need to re-apply for their job. rumor is they will only keep 75% of staff positions
What would be hilarious and awesome
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 7:38pm
is if the new owners announced to all the re-hired staff that the era of Shirley "Shill-y" Leung at the other paper was an opportunity to become the city's most respected news outlet.
No more playing one lower-class group of Bostonians against another lower-class group, no more pandering to anti-intellectualism, no being buddies with any officials, no more opinion columnists. Each staff member must be writing like journalism professors and a Pulitzer committee are scrutinizing each piece.
Would advertisers, subscription revenue, and awards committees signal approval?
Would the Globe be so humiliated that it is sold to a non-profit for $1, where they can aspire to emulate the Herald's new greatness?
That would be funny
By adamg
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 7:44pm
You obviously don't know GateHouse, though.
If they want to beat the Globe
By anon
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 12:08am
maybe they have to change strategies.
Maybe Gatehouse can sell
By jmeltzer
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 5:30pm
the Herald comments section to Yahoo.
Howie will always get his
By Kinopio
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 5:44pm
Howie will always get his opinion out there. You'll just have to read the next klan newsletter to get it.
No.
By Brian Riccio
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 5:51pm
He'll go to Breitbart. He already has his head up Bannon's ass.
Will Bratfart take him?
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 7:06pm
I mean, Bannon has a strong following of white power nazi cuckoffs and Carr is supposedly a Jew ...
Carr already has
By Brian Riccio
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 9:52pm
several pieces on Breitbart or don't you peruse that though catalog run by a Nazi and his Hitlerjugend regularly?
No thanks
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 10:06pm
I use toilet paper.
Please!
By Brian Riccio
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 10:10pm
I cancelled my Sirius subscription today after ten years after the fawning press release they issued Tuesday heralding the expansion of Bannon's presence on it's airwaves.
Fuck that.
He'll have to clear it with John Martorano first, right?
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 8:20pm
Howie's day job is is PR flack for that murderer.
Pat Purcell allowed that to happen on the front page
By bulgingbuick
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 10:07am
daily during the sales push for the book. Its about the money and the culture of victimhood perpetuated by the angry white guy demo they made hay with.
Howie has radio show that is
By raccoonradio
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 7:23am
Howie has radio show that is on 25 times as many radio stations as Jerry Williams used to have.He's not in the Klan, which was started by southern Democrats.
And now a proud supporter ...
By adamg
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 8:53am
Of the racist GOP.
You don’t know Raccoon?
By Brian Riccio
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 9:44am
He’s a fixture on right wing sites as a vocal supporter of that fat old turd Carr.
You posting from the Mall
By bulgingbuick
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 10:08am
Roy?
Clowning Around !
By OriginalPatPayaso
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 6:43pm
I thought they might be on their last legs when they didn't understand the point of a clown running for City Council making light of the fact that no journalism is being done in this city (Adam excepted) and that the politicians and government are running amok.
Watch Herald reporter Dan Atkinson steer the conversation from any substantive journalism to my makeup and the size of my wallet just a few months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI-Dkflg83c&t=59s
The lack of quality journalism not just in Boston but America is only going to exacerbate the stratification of America as the rich control the media and government with no independent oversight.
“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”
― George Orwell
The future looks bright!
By Gary C
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 3:49pm
Well the Herald can't get any worse and the various Gatehouse Transcripts are basically devoid of news, so I don't see how either can get any worse. We've hit rock bottom and it's all up from here!
Can we even consider the
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 3:50pm
Can we even consider the Globe (press release mill) or the Herald (sports/talk radio gossip tabloid) real newspapers anymore?
Globe
By BostonDog
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 4:20pm
The Globe sucks but don't knock it too much. It broke the Stan's Rosenberg story last week. It has covered other major state house stories that go beyond the UHub headlines.
This just makes it easier for the Globe since they'll have less competition. I never read the Herald but it served a purpose to at least embarrass the Globe when they caught something first. It's a shame that's going away.
Now resume normal Globe bashing. They deserve most but not all of it.
One paper town?
By Irma la Douce
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 4:39am
Consider the possibility of Boston becoming a one paper town, with that paper being the Gatehouse Herald:
"The Boston Globe paid a hefty price this summer in terms of subscribers for its disastrous and well-documented transition from printing its newspaper in Boston to its new facility in Taunton.
The Globe’s Sunday print circulation numbers were down 9.4 percent year-over-year — a total of 22,621 readers — for the three-month period from July to September this year, according to figures the newspaper recently filed with the Alliance for Audited Media.
Its weekday circulation during that period was even worse, falling 9.8 percent year-over-year."
https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2017/12/01...
End of an era.
By Melissa
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 3:58pm
They were a reasonable conservative paper until Murdoch bought it in the 1980s. No place for them anymore, I guess.
They were a failing conservative newspaper until then
By adamg
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 4:06pm
You might recall the Herald was on the verge of shutting down back then when Murdoch swooped in.
Does anybody besides me remember
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 4:22pm
Does anybody besides me remember that throughout the 70s the Herald (as the "Herald American", I believe) was not a tabloid but a Globe-size paper with a slightly more conservative slant than the Globe, but not the ultra conservative tabloid slant it had before (as the "Record American") and since. A lost period.
It’s always been a Republican leaning paper
By Waquiot
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 6:11pm
Going all the way back to Lincoln.
I remember too...
By carfare
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 6:21pm
... it was still even the Herald American for a short time after going to tabloid format. It has a crazy history with all the buy-outs and mergers with other papers (the American, the Record, the Advertiser to name a few)
The Herald has always been up against the ropes as long as I can remember. I hope it sticks around, but if it becomes about as relevant as the Metro I guess, what's the point really?
No...
By Brian Riccio
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 6:29pm
There were two papers that leaned conservative, The Herald Traveler and the Record American. The Record was the tabloid format the Herald is now and I can't recall if the Herald was also tabloid form.
When they merged it became the Herald-American for a while before it devolved into the shitshow known as just the Herald that was just mercifully destroyed like a sick animal.
The Herald American...
By carfare
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 6:39pm
....was a broadsheet until the very early 80s. It was then produced in tabloid format and shortly thereafter (prior to Murdoch? Not sure) truncated the name to just the Herald.
History Lesson
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 6:48pm
The Herald Traveler was a broadsheet. I remember it from the 60s. I seem to recall it always seemed tertiary to the broadsheet Globe and the tabloid Record American. Circa 1971 or so the Herald Traveler and the Record American merged and became the Herald American, which was a broadsheet. So, throughout the 70s, Boston had no daily in tabloid format. In the early 80s Murdoch bought it and reverted it to the old tabloid format as the Boston Herald. I recall thinking at the time that it seemed like a step backward. But a lot of things abut the 80s felt that way to me after the 60s and 70s.
Afternoon Broadsheets
By Michael Fahey
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 11:01pm
The Herald Traveler, which I delivered, was an afternoon broadsheet published by the same outfit that published the Boston Herald. The Globe 's afternoon broadsheet was the Boston Evening Globe.
During the depression, my mother's sister, Julie, worked in the Herald's classified advertising department. My grandfather was happy to see her paycheck coming into the house but not so the newspaper. " I will not have that Republican rag in
this house," was his edict.
Tabloid before Murdoch
By Irma la Douce
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 4:15am
The Herald American adopted the tabloid format in Sept 1981, Murdoch purchased the paper Dec 1982, hours after the date the paper was set to close down.
That was when The Hearst
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 6:30pm
That was when The Hearst Corporation (who owned The Record American) bought the Herald.
Now I'll have to get rid of my
By bulgingbuick
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 3:58pm
Bird.
I didn't get rid of my bird
By Dave
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 5:13pm
I didn't get rid of my bird when I got rid of the Globe. Even after lining the cage and the floor underneath, there's plenty of leftover junk mail to recycle.
Keep the bird
By jmeltzer
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 5:34pm
You still get the grocery ads in the mail every week, right?
Pretty bird
By Lunchbox
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 9:39pm
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SldBtvWFhM[/youtube]
Nevertheless
By Ishmael Jones
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 4:10pm
I continue to read both papers, though on-line. I don't agree with much of the Herald, but read it anyway. There is some worthwhile local reporting, and local reporting is what most of the media in this city lack. I've always believed in reading what I don't agree with and what I agree with. I am not happy to read this, especially with staff losing jobs. Not you, Howie.
Not just jobs
By adamg
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 4:14pm
McGovern reports many longtime employees now have to worry about ever getting their pensions, because of the bankruptcy filing and because GateHouse is basically saying screw you to them.
The value of a second newspaper notwithstanding...
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 4:36pm
Those employees laid down with the dogs.
I'm sure there will be
By jmeltzer
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 5:21pm
an outraged column from Howie about how his fellow employees are being screwed.
Oh, look up there! It's an American Landrace!
Sad!
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 4:23pm
Sad!
It's not easy making a newspaper for people who hate to read.
By section77
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 4:46pm
Most of the Herald's target audience can no longer read anything longer than a facebook meme. Still the same, 2 paper towns are better than just letting the Globe inflict their ever-slidding standards on us. (Yes, I know this is another news outlet.)
$4,499,999.00 more than
By Dave
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 5:56pm
$4,499,999.00 more than Newsweek.
I smell lawsuits
By myname
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 7:39pm
owner thinks he can take $4.5 million and walk while telling the staff "sorry no money left for your pension" and vendors "sorry can't pay you--we're bankrupt".
They had pensions?
By anon
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 8:04pm
They had pensions?
Joe Kennedy reacts
By adamg
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 8:10pm
Does the Boston Globe get stiffed?
By paul
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 8:15pm
With the Boston Herald filing for bankruptcy, I wonder by doing that do they stiff the Boston Globe for printing since Gatehouse will find the capacity somewhere with what they own for presses to print the Boston Herald in-house?
Probably
By Waquiot
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 10:26am
I'd be curious to see if they would argue any performance issues with their contract with the Globe regardless of the bankruptcy. I don't know where the printing operation for Gatehouse is, but since the publish the Patriot Ledger, I don't see how wherever it is would be worse than Taunton.
And if that contract falls through, who knows what the future of the boring broadsheet will be.
I used to debate this with people. The Globe had the readership, but I swear it always looked like the Herald had the advertising, and that's the element that keeps a newspaper in business. The counter always was that the Globe printed the Herald, making the Globe the more powerful paper.
Did I mention the time when I cancelled my subscription
By Dave-from-Boston
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 10:05pm
Yup - I called into to the Herald Subscription Dept but was transferred to a very pleasant women in Manila. She practically begged me not to cancel - but in the end she said she was not surprised because she was getting hundreds of similar calls daily - wait - wait - got that wrong - it was the Globe I was cancelling -hmm - or was it the Herald? Damn I can't remember - anyway I cancelled something
The Failing Boston Herald
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 10:23pm
Blame it on Fake News?
Either way
By Irma la Douce
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 7:04am
I'm sure the woman in Manila was lovely.
Hey!!! Anyone know why Howie Carr got suspended from Twitter?
By Brian Riccio
Fri, 12/08/2017 - 10:48pm
I'm dying to know! Oops! Wrong account! He's still there.
Steve Buckley
By Suldog
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 7:52am
Steve Buckley
My sentiments exactly.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Programming note!
By Brian Riccio
Sat, 12/09/2017 - 11:08am
I will be appearing on Mike Crawford's show, The Young Jurks, on WEMFRadio.com at 6PM this evening talking about the Herald and Stan and dogs and why I keep getting booted from Twitter.I'll be the old Jurk.
Call in and communicate with me live! It's fun!
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