What's the thinking on Fort Wayne's two newspapers (Denver: homes, neighborhood)

[CuriouserGeorge]

I haven't actually researched this, but I don't think that there are that many cities left in the U.S. that have two daily newspapers. As such, I'd say Fort Wayne is unique and special.

That said, and based on what I've seen on their websites, I wonder if there are enough good writers and stories to support two newspapers.

My understanding of Leininger at the News-Sentinel is that he's a feature writer, but not a very good one. I've seen his Fort Wayne youtube videos, though, and they don't seem as bad. As a columnist, though, I think he's really kind of not-ready-for-prime-time. I do respect that he's a local institution, however, and appears to be a genuinely good guy but with some wacky thinking.

Another guy I noticed tonight is a fellow named Rinearson. What a loony he is (my opinion of course). Is he the best that the N-S can come up with?

I give the Journal Gazette better marks, but even that organization doesn't seem to strive for over-achievement. For example, earlier in the week the JG published a nice article about a very famous old horror silent film, "Nosferatu". The correspondent consistently misspelled the title as, "Nosfuratu", which in my book means the writer doesn't really care to fact check. I sent in a comment thinking the paper would change the error, but they haven't done so. No big deal, but for a casual reader like myself it's a quality thing, which means I'd go elsewhere for my local news.

Some cities have alternative newspapers. Does FW have any of those?

Thanks for all comments.

[OpenD]

Middle of the last century they really were two newspapers, with two pressses, and many households got both, the Journal-Gazette in the morning with the overnight news, and the News-Sentinal in the afternoon with the top news of the day featured. The appearance of television news started the spiral down in readership, which led to a joint operating agreement, to cut costs by combining printing and distribution organizations and advertising sales, but keeping separate editorial and management teams.

In 1950, The Journal Gazette entered into one of the first joint operating agreements for competing daily newspapers in the United States. Under the arrangement, The Journal Gazette and The News-Sentinel have independent editorial staffs and management, while a jointly-owned corporation sells advertising, handles circulation, prints the newspapers and, since 1958, has been landlord to the newspapers' staffs. Initially, The Journal Gazette owned 45% of Fort Wayne Newspapers.

In 2003, the companies agreed to extend the joint operating agreement to 2050, with The News-Sentinel paying $42 million to increase their stake from 55% to 75%. Fort Wayne Newspapers is expanding to the west of their current location at 600 West Main street, and expect to be using a new TKS (USA) Color Top 7000CDH 4-by-2 press in 2007 to replace the Eight Goss Mark I letterpress units and four MAN Roland flexographic units now in use. The Goss units were installed in 1958, when the current building was erected.

The Journal Gazette - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Today most local papers are very much on the decline, and many cities around Ft Wayne's size don't even have their own daily any more.

[CuriouserGeorge]

Thanks, OpenD. That sounds similar to the situation that the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News engineered during the mid-90's. I was living in Denver at that time and could see that one or the other would eventually go under, which subsequently was the case with the RMN. I would expect a similar result in Fort Wayne, but, maybe not, since the joint operating agreement has held up for so many years.

In terms of their web sites, I'd say that the News-Sentinel has a more attractive layout and generally better writers. One female correspondent recently did a piece on the visiting Doris Kerns-Goodwin which I thought was very well done. In terms of featured columnists, though, I think the N-S is hopelessly stuck in a different era. Kevin Leininger is a dinosaur and it's hard to imagine how he survives on the basis of his writing. Perhaps it's the equivalent of tenure in the university systems, and once you survive so many years they can't get rid of you. His bombast and smugness doesn't show up when he does the Youtube Fort Wayne Report, though. He actually seems like a nice guy.

N-S has another salaried writer by the name of Bob Rinearson, and this guy is borderline imbecilic. He's so far on the Right that it should be an embarrassment to the newspaper to have him employed. The only time I'd let him produce copy is during Halloween!

If the Journal Gazette ever went under, and if the population of Fort Wayne was less conservative, then I could imagine an alternative newspaper sprouting up. Regardless, I do think that the future will result in less conservative publications that present a more balanced and nuanced reporting.

[belovenow]

From the perspective of a retailer in Fort Wayne and can assure you the printed news papers are on their way out. All you need to do is drive around on any morning and realize gone are the days when nearly everyone had newspapers delivered to their homes or businesses (in my neighborhood you perhaps see 1 paper delivered per 30 or so homes with Sundays not fairing much better). They've been trying to make the move to do more online for years now, but they have never had great visitor statistics (or for that matter statistics which made sense considering the ad results I've personally seen). I know they have relied upon the same top business customers for ad revenue for a very long time and those streams are starting to dry up because the ROI has steadily been getting worse.

As a consumer/citizen I can say I just don't see any value to sites like FortWayne.com - the national and regional stories are rehashed from other sources while the local news typically slanted towards the handful of big ad revenue generating businesses (ever noticed how the privately owned Fort Wayne Zoo gets press coverage nearly every other week? or how Science Central, the Embassy, and the Botanical Conservatory do as well?). To clue everyone in, it's not because they are the only places to visit every holiday nor because they are the only places with "scheduled events" - it's because their owners and the owners of FortWayne.com have tight financial relationships and unless you are part of that circle (which you pay to enter and to stay within), you won't receive press coverage (including bloggers they pay to provide "independent opinions" - yes, try to figure that one out???!!).

All that stated, I'm not delusional; I know this is how journalism works in a capitalistic economy, obviously sponsors pay everyone's salaries and thus the writers and photographers have in their own best interest to support the sponsors. I just think because of that fact, the news hashed by Fort Wayne's two news papers isn't very newsworthy to those of us who utilize social media and independent news organization for our information needs.

[ischyros]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Middle of the last century they really were two newspapers, with two pressses, and many households got both, the Journal-Gazette in the morning with the overnight news, and the News-Sentinal in the afternoon with the top news of the day featured. The appearance of television news started the spiral down in readership, which led to a joint operating agreement, to cut costs by combining printing and distribution organizations and advertising sales, but keeping separate editorial and management teams.



Today most local papers are very much on the decline, and many cities around Ft Wayne's size don't even have their own daily any more.

Doesn't one lean more liberal and the other more conservative, too? I thought I remember that being the case but I could be wrong.

[wh15395]

Originally Posted by ischyros

Doesn't one lean more liberal and the other more conservative, too? I thought I remember that being the case but I could be wrong.

Yeah, the Sentinel is the conservative one.