Veteran State Journal-Register Dean Olsen reporter joined the United Media Guild contingent that ventured to New York City to attend the New Media Investment Group shareholders meeting.
New Media is the parent company of GateHouse Media, which operates the State Journal-Register and several other Illinois newspapers. Olsen, the UMG’s Springfield unit chair, passed our concerns directly to GateHouse CEO Kirk Davis.
The State Journal-Register is a profitable operation. Yet the company has continued cutting costs to maximize cash flow, which is used to pay dividends to shareholders, fund more acquisitions and reward top executives handsomely.
This is good for New Media/GateHouse in the near term, but the failure to reinvest in the company’s core product — quality local and regional content — will hurt in the long-term.
Cost-cutting at the State Journal-Register has caused the news-gathering operation to erode. Readers and advertisers have noticed this decline. Many have pledged their support of our campaign to Save the SJ-R by gaining a fair collective bargaining agreement that respects and rewards good journalism.
Here is Dean’s account of the shareholders meeting.
Here is the account from Shannon Duffy, business representative for UMG.