Last week, I reported that the Orange County Register is in secret talks with Dean Singleton, owner of the Denver-based MediaNews Inc. and an all-around Darth Vader of daily news--he bought and all but killed the Long Beach Press Telegram, just as one example--to share content and lay off writers. I also wrote that Register publisher Terry Horne plans to give away free issues and depend on ad sales to save his failing paper.
Horne wouldn't comment for my story, but confirmed the details in a press-release. . . Oops, I meant to say "article" that ran in his own paper today. "Terry Horne . . . is betting on free community newspapers, expanded Web offerings and a smaller Register newspaper to help the company weather falling ad revenue and declining circulation," Mary Ann Milbourn reported. "The three-pronged approach is an acknowledgment that the old newspaper business model – based on a one-size fits all newspaper – is no longer viable, Horne said in his first interview since becoming publisher in September."
You can read the rest of Milbourn's story--and get more details about those three prongs-- here.
Although Singleton isn't mentioned by name, Milbourn writes that among the changes on the horizon is "Joining a consortium with other companies, to be announced soon, that will share advertising and news content." Given that everyone at the Register already knows Horne is talking to Singleton, it's kind of weird that Milbourn's story is so vague on that point, but she did get the big scoop on Horne's bright idea for a website that will surely secure the paper's future as a premiere source of local news: www.orangecounty.com. The website, Horne says, will become a "destination portal" for folks all over the world who are interested in visiting Orange County or moving here.
So let's sum up. Since taking over the paper, Horne has laid off dozens of writers and editors, overseen the self-destruction of its ill-starred spin-offs, Squeeze OC and OC Post, and entered into a devilish deal with Dean Singleton that promises to allow even more layoffs and cost-cutting. But don't worry folks, he's got plans for a travel information website that will make everything okay.
According to Milbourn, Horne isn't worried. "The Register is incredibly well-positioned because we have more resources and people focused on Orange County than all the other newspaper organizations focused on Orange County combined," he told her. "We need to continue to be the expert on Orange County and find ways to leverage that competitive edge."
February 27, 2008 12:19
I don't knows why I bother -- you'll persist in "reporting" the fiction you come up with in your bath.
But let's review just one graf of your "story," shall we?
"So let's sum up. Since taking over the paper, Horne has laid off dozens of writers and editors, overseen the self-destruction of its ill-starred spin-offs, Squeeze OC and OC Post, and entered into a devilish deal with Dean Singleton that promises to allow even more layoffs and cost-cutting. But don't worry folks, he's got plans for a travel information website that will make everything okay."
So let's sum up yours errors:
1) Horn did not laid dozens of writers and editors. He arrive at the OCR in January. Nearly all the buyouts and layoffs -- there's a difference, you know -- occurred under former publisher Chris Anderson. Under Horn, about three people took buyouts and one was laid off in January out of the editorial staff.
2)The OC Post and Squeeze OC was also the retarded bastard spawn of Anderson. They'd been self-destructing for months under him, and instead of blaming Horn for them, if you were as fair and balanced as Bill O'Reilly you'd praise him for doing something right for the Register -- stopping the financial bleeding these two babies were responsible for.
3) Deals with Dean Singleton? I addressed this in my earlier note to you. Basically, you've taken a couple of facts -- there is some sharing going on -- and spun it into a fairy tale of your own crafting. Singleton isn't buying the Register -- at least not yet. And Barry Koltnow isn't losing his job -- geez, that one still irks me. If wrote that Nick Schou was losing his job because of lousy reporting like this stuff, I'd certainly not publish it until I had actual confirmation of that.
So write sall the death watches you wants, but geez, dude, try at least to get the facts right. And maybe you should tip your buddies up at the LA Weekly that it might be time to start an LA Times Death Watch, too. After all, the Times has a deal with Singleton on some advertising inserts (http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS145516+08-Jan-2008+PRN20080108). Supposedly Chris Anderson was on a list of potential editors up there. And Metromix sure looks like OC Post and SqueezeOC had a baby who grew up and moved to the big city.
Keeping you honest,
UR Wrong
Angry Bitter Register Staffer