So, the Denver Post is for sale

[Colorado Media Newsroom]

From The Denver Post:



So the Denver Post is for sale. What else is new?
When Thunderdome, the ill-fated (and goofily-titled) national wire service concept of Digital First Media, was dismantled this spring, a sale seemed likely.

The for-sale sign went up today. The Denver Post and other Digital First Media papers are on the market.

I have no inside information on the sale, no idea what will happen or when. But like many staffers, I hope a local buyer emerges, someone with deep pockets who cares about journalism and the importance of the media’s gatekeeper role in local government and politics. We need our own Jeff Bezos.

Ken Doctor, veteran analyst of the media industry whose books, website and lectures are respected in the field, has made predictions via his Newsonomics.com site and on Twitter, “The DFM Sale: Among early sales, Anschutz in Denver/Boulder. How purple is Colorado?” His Tweets say he expects regional sales “in 6 lots: LA, Bay Area, No.Cal, Colorado, Tex/NM, and E of the Mississippi. Sales close by March targeted.” He also notes the DFM Sale, “with 76 dailies; 160 weeklies, means more than 5% of U.S. press up for sale in one fell swoop.”

Who cares what the buyer’s politics are if he or she has the right approach to hands-off journalism? It all puts me in mind of the Tina Turner lyric from Mad Max, “we don’t need another hero.” Oh yes, we do. All we want is life beyond the thunderdome.

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