Newspapers at the Crossroads
Journalism From Milwaukee to Minneapolis

Related Links

Lee Enterprises owns half of CWN.

Read about CWN.

See pie chart on Survey Results.

Email Sabrina with questions or comments.

More from the authors on "Leaving Readers Behind".

Back to home page

Central Wisconsin Newspapers works together

By Sabrina Adkins-Schuck
UW-Eau Claire Journalism Seminar Student
Wednesday, May 15, 2002

In recent years, there has been a debate among journalists whether or not corporately owned newspapers are a good way to run the newspaper business.  In "Leaving Readers Behind", Gene Roberts, and others, takes a negative view of corporately owned newspapers.

Roberts suggests that corporately owned newspapers are interested in one thing and one thing only -- profits.  Chain newspapers are not interested in being newspapers but instead are interested in increasing their bottom line, according to Roberts.

Another problem with chain newspapers according to Jack Bass, in "Leaving Readers Behind", is that they reduce the voices of the newspaper.  “An obvious drawback to geographical concentration is that it reduces competition and the diversity of journalistic voices,” Bass wrote.  But according to journalists in the Central Wisconsin Newspaper group, like Jody Kibler, editor of the Juneau County Star-Times, the geographical concentration of newspaper ownership has benefits as well. 

An example of one of the benefits of working with a company such as Madison Newspapers Inc. and CWN is the fact that they are geographically close to each other and that they work together, according to Kibler.  The newspapers within CWN and MNI help each other with stories, photos, become better newspapers, and when they need extra reporters they may share reporters, according to Kay Lapp James, managing editor for CWN.

For instance, if the Juneau County Star-Times has a story that is of significance to other newspapers in the chain, they may decide to collaborate or share stories.  A recent example of this was the death of Alicia Clark of Elroy which is in Juneau County.  Clark was killed in Feb. by six Rottweilers, and when the dog's owners were in court the first time, Kibler quickly got permission to bring a camera into the courtroom.  She then contacted her managing editor who told her to contact the Wisconsin State Journal, a newspaper owned by MNI.  The Wisconsin State Journal wanted to send an AP  photographer into the courtroom, but since the Juneau County Star-Times does not have a subscription to the AP and the State Journal does, the State Journal said that they would provide the photographer and they would share photographs.  

Before being purchased by Madison Newspapers Inc., the Juneau County Star-Times, a paper within CWN, was owned by Independent Media Group, IMG.  Kibler said that it is different being owned by MNI because they focus on newspapers, whereas IMG focused more on their television and radio stations and the newspapers got whatever revenues or resources were left over.

MNI specializes in newspapers and in keeping the local newspaper alive, according to Kibler. Michael Carignan, editor of the Reedsburg Times-Press said that since the ownership change the paper has not changed that much overall, but their focus has changed a bit. Under their previous owners, they did not work as closely together with the other newspapers in the chain as they do with CWN and MNI. "We weren't encouraged that much before to work together," Carignan said.

Central Wisconsin Newspapers Inc. is owned by Madison Newspapers Inc., which is owned by Lee Enterprises and the Capital Times Co.  Lee Enterprises owns 45 dailies, 141 shoppers, 33 weeklies, and 6 agricultural publications, which includes their half ownership in MNI.

 Daily or weekly newspapers that are included in CWN are: the Portage Daily Register, Wisconsin Dells Events, Reedsburg Times-Press, Sauk Prairie Eagle, Baraboo News Republic, Juneau County Star-Times, Daily Citizen, Columbus Journal, and Neighbors. The Daily Citizen, Columbus Journal, and Neighbors were just purchased as of April 1.

Reed Andrew, editor of the Wisconsin Dells Events said when asked if his newspaper won any awards this year, "Our entries for 2001 must have gotten lost in the mail."

Even though the Wisconsin Dells Events did not win any awards in 2001, other CWN papers did.  "For its news products, CWN won 14 awards," said Kay Lapp James, managing editor of CWN.  The Reedsburg Times-Press won seven awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation, which included four first places, 1 second place and two third places.  The Juneau County Star-Times won two awards, which included one first prize and one third place.  The Baraboo News Republic won three awards, which included one second place and two third places.  The Portage Daily Register won two second place awards.

James Hopson, chairman of MNI, publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal and vice president of Lee Enterprises, said that they purchased the newspapers in CWN because they are part of the Madison market.  Readers drive to Madison to go shopping, to work, and
even for entertainment. "They extend the footprint of Madison newspapers," Hopson said. 

Hopson said that the priorities of MNI and CWN are to "grow revenue creatively and rapidly, improve readership and circulation, emphasize strong local news, build our online future and exercise careful cost controls." 

One contention with chain newspapers, according to Roberts, is that they focus too much on the bottom line and on profits. "The newspaper business has always been a business," Hopson said. "When it stops being a business it stops being journalism." 

The newspaper makes money through advertising, and the newspaper attracts an audience by publishing a good newspaper. You can't have one without the other, Hopson said. "Good journalism is absolutely an integral part of the success of any publishing company." 

Andrew agreed. The editorial department needs integrity, and you need the advertising to generate revenue, he said. Without integrity in the editorial department the newspaper is no longer a newspaper but instead it is a shopper, according to Andrew.

James hires for all six papers, does the budgeting for the department and monitors it during the year from Portage, Wis. She directly supervises the editors throughout CWN and also deals with any complaints about the papers. Recently she dealt with some complaints about the redesign of some of the newspapers. James said the complaints ranged from the size of the type, which they quickly changed back to the bigger size to accommodate their readers, to the placement of the obituaries. 

Aaron Holbrook, managing editor of the newly acquired Daily Citizen, is excited about the sale. "I think it is a positive development for the company," Holbrook said. "It will provide more resources for staff development and growth of newspaper circulation."

Holbrook thinks that with the new ownership they will be able to exercise a little more of an editorial voice in the community, because the previous owners were more reluctant to ruffle feathers.

Mark Hertzberg, director of photography at The Journal Times, said, "I know that there is a tremendous amount of pride among our journalists and a willingness to share information and resources across the chain.  It's like having an extended family of journalists, outside of our own newsroom." 

"Ideally, journalists are not aware of being part of a chain except when needing to draw on its resources," Hertzberg said. "Unlike some chains, there is no editorial direction on what to cover, how to cover it, or whom to endorse, from the corporate headquarters."

According to a UW-Eau Claire class survey, newspaper chains increasingly restrict their journalists' news gathering efforts. Holbrook disagrees. "Thomson and others may be more restrictive," Holbrook said. But he said that Lee made a decision to get out of television and radio, and made a commitment to newspapers.

Survey findings show that newspaper owners' actions are increasingly restricting their journalists' news gathering efforts: 26.4 percent said they are "somewhat" more restricted by their owners now than when they started their jobs, and 5.9 percent said they are "much
more" restricted; only 7.6 percent felt any less restricted. "There are periodic restrictions that you might not see in a smaller paper," Carignan said.  For example, you may have to tighten expenditures in one spot where you might not have to otherwise, said Carignan.

"We don't really have much in the way of restrictions," Kibler said. "Although I haven't really tried to push the envelope too much." Kibler went on to describe the recent death of Clark in Juneau County. She wrote a column about Clark's religion and they were allowed to print it without any recriminations, whereas some papers may not have allowed the article to be printed.

"The editorial departments of larger chain-owned papers are often less likely to be influenced or 'restricted' by business forces than independently owned papers," said Tom Sheehan, reporter for Lee newspapers. "This is true because, in most cases, there is more distance
(physically and philosophically) between the editorial department and the advertising and promotion departments."

Chain papers also appear to their journalists to be chasing increasing profits more than independent papers do, according to a UW-Eau Claire class survey. Among those who work for chain papers, 38.4 percent say their paper's emphasis on larger profit margins is "much" greater now, and another 43.1 percent say there is "somewhat" greater emphasis on profits. For those who work at independent papers, 17.6 percent say that there is "much" greater emphasis on profits and 41.8 percent say that there is "somewhat" greater emphasis on profits. 

At independent papers, all of the profits that come into a paper usually go right back into the paper, whereas in a chain the revenues may get dispersed into different areas from a much bigger pot, Carignan said. The chain may also decide, instead of putting the revenues back
into the paper to buy another paper. 

"I don't know if it's because we are a smaller newspaper but our answers would be totally opposite," Kibler said. They feel less restricted and instead of cutting staff have actually added staff since they were purchased by MNI and became a part of CWN. "We all feel a lot of job satisfaction because we are reporting on our own hometown," she said.

"I suspect the timing of your survey may have affected the results," Sheehan said. "Both chain and independent papers have been cutting back or not hiring recently, based on economic conditions. When the economy is running smoothly, journalists don't think much about the
business side of their companies. When the economy heads south, it affects all departments, which may seem like management all of a sudden has become more profit-driven and cracked down on editorial."

"Overall, newsgathering is dependent on business operations," Sheehan said. "It's where the money comes from to pay our salaries. In general, a newspaper with a healthy bottom line can offer more freedom to its newsroom, regardless of ownership structure. Constant pressure for profits without regard to the affect on content ultimately backfires. People do still expect to find news in a newspaper."