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overview
holdings
landmarks
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overview
This profile deals with the Community News Holdings Inc
(CNHI) newspaper group of the US.
It covers -
introduction
Birmingham (Alabama) based CNHI is another US 'McPaper'
chain that embraces daily, weekly and semiweekly newspapers
in over 200 communities across the US.
It was founded in 1997 by former Thomson executive Ralph
Martin with funding from Retirement Systems of Alabama
and has been agressively buying (and selling) community
papers in 22 states, with acquisitions from Gannett,
Thomson, Hollinger
and MediaGeneral.
By mid 2001 it owned 95 daily newspapers, 100 weeklies,
25 shopper publications, a direct marketing company and
several commercial print facilities.
As of mid 2003 it has around 200 daily and weekly titles
with a combined circulation of over 1 million. Most titles
are monopoly operations with a circulation of 13,000 to
25,000. Around 30% of CNHI's publications are in Oklahoma
and Texas. The group owns but does not operate two television
stations.
Its corporate site is here.
the group
The group's expansion has been driven by investment from
pension funds and perceptions that there are dwindling
opportunities for acquistion - as major competitors hoover
up minor chains and independent family publishers - so
speed is of the essence. It has been reported that CNHI
expects profit margins of around 30%.
Typically CNHI appears to aim to increase profitability
by slashing costs - editorial content is often unsubstantial
and resolutely parochial - and building clusters of titles
that allow sharing of editorial resources and infrastructure
(eg printing of several titles from a common base).
Arguably the result does not make for great journalism.
CNHI's site indicates that its strategy is
to seek out newspapers in smaller markets with growth
potential. A premium has been placed in purchasing newspapers
in geographic proximity, for operational efficiency
and in order to provide additional services to readers.
In
2003 Martin's successor Mike Reed commented
When
you have 200 newspapers, it makes it extremely difficult
to pay attention to all of them ... For years, it looked
like we were buying everything. We bought some things
we shouldn't have bought, we paid prices for some things
we shouldn't have paid. Now we're going to run a business.
studies
There is no major study of CNHI. Perspectives on McPapers
are provided by
Leaving Readers Behind: The Age of Corporate Newspapering
(Fayetteville: Uni of Arkansas Press
2001) edited by Gene Roberts, Thomas
Kunkel & Charles Layton, The Menace of the Corporate
Newspaper: Fact or Fiction? (Ames: Iowa State Uni
Press 1996)
by David Demers and the
1999 paper
The Myths and Realities of Newspaper Acquisition Costs:
Fiduciary Responsibilities, Fungibility of Assets, Winners'
Penalties & Excess Cash "Problems" by
Dane
Claussen.
next
page (CNHI holdings)
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