Over the last 15 years, Ken Doctor has made his living as a critic of the news industry. A onetime media executive who started out as a publisher and editor of an alt weekly, Doctor regularly warns against hedge-fund ownership of news outlets in a column he writes for Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. Media companies hire him as a consultant, and he is often quoted in articles on the dismal state of local news coverage in America. Now, at age 70, Doctor is leaving his life as an armchair expert and starting a local news company.
Doctor: Looking Ahead To A Volatile 2017
Ken Doctor goes into full prognosticator mode in this broadly-looking piece that speculates on FCC media crossownership rules, the subscription/ad revenue ratio changes for newspapers, the fate and foibles of Gannett Co. and podcasting’s growing audience, among other topics.
Ken Doctor throws an early set of 2017 predictions out there in terms of current media inside baseball stories likely to stay on people’s lips into next year. They include the House of Murdoch in transition, Gannett’s steroidal growth, a baton pass at The New York Times, a reordering at GateHouse and more papers following the Independent‘s example into a post-print life.
How In The World Do You Sell A Tegna?
Ken Doctor: “Gannett CEO Gracia Martore and her investor relations people have been busy priming the sales pump of their new broadcast-digital company for several months. Now they’ve got a name of sorts to put on the new company — after its divestiture of its financially woeful publishing division — that’s among the top three in regional broadcasters, with a strong digital classifieds portfolio.”
Running a sports league and running a news operation aren’t the same thing. But there are lessons to be learned from baseball’s success in navigating mobile, says media analyst Ken Doctor.
Patch Shows Flaws In The Hyperlocal Model
Ken Doctor on lessons from the crumbling of AOL’s Patch: “The lesson now dawning on publishers worldwide is that their reliance on advertising as the major support of their news businesses is all but over. As print revenue’s decline has accelerated, growing digital ad revenue is increasingly tough as well.”
Exclusives
Ken Doctor on lessons from the crumbling of AOL’s Patch: “The lesson now dawning on publishers worldwide is that their reliance on advertising as the major support of their news businesses is all but over. As print revenue’s decline has accelerated, growing digital ad revenue is increasingly tough as well.”
