MediaNews Group Inc.

Denver Post thriving despite Journal Register Company bankruptcy, says John Paton

Last week, we considered the impact on Denver Post owner MediaNews Group after its Digital First Media partner, the Journal Register Company, declared bankruptcy. Now, John Paton, the chief executive of all three firms, is speaking out on the topic, saying MediaNews Group and the Post are in great s ... More >>

Boulder Daily Camera lays off seventeen, may be outsourcing ad design in India

Earlier this week, we contacted Boulder Daily Camera publisher Al Manzi after hearing the paper's publishing company had told nearly twenty workers they would be laid off -- and that they'd subsequently learned many of the paper's ad-design chores would be outsourced to India. Today, Manzi got back ... More >>

Righthaven finally acknowledges relationship with MediaNews Group in Brian Hill filing

Brian Hill.​This week, Righthaven, a Nevada firm specializing in copyright-infringement litigation, finally acknowledged its relationship with MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post, in a filing on view below related to a dropped lawsuit against chronically ill, mildly autistic hobby blogge ... More >>

Denver Daily News shuts down: "Just doesn't look like we can sustain," publisher says

​Update: Denver Daily News publisher Kristie Hannon has been swamped with messages since word broke that the paper will cease publication just over ten years after its debut. However, she took the time to take part in a detailed Q&A about the decision.

MediaNews spokeswoman responds to query about Righthaven lawsuits with more silence

Sara Glines.​Last November, MediaNews Group vice president of field operations Sara Glines didn't respond to repeated interview requests about a series of lawsuits filed by Nevada's Righthaven LLC for unauthorized use of Denver Post content. Now, following controversy over a suit against autis ... More >>

Brian Hill: Hobby blogger sued by MediaNews & Righthaven is 20, chronically ill, autistic

Big pic below.​MediaNews Group's get-tough policy toward copyright protection has been led by Righthaven LLC, a Nevada firm whose Denver Post-related lawsuits have targeted the likes of Internet star Matt Drudge. Far less powerful is Brian D. Hill, a twenty-year-old hobby blogger on disability ... More >>

Dean Singleton interview about stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group

Dean Singleton.​Dean Singleton is stepping down as CEO of MediaNews Group -- a position he's held for more than a quarter-century. But he's not retiring. He'll serve as MediaNews' executive chairman, as well as publisher for both the Denver Post and the Salt Lake Tribune. Speculation is rife t ... More >>

Denver Post parent MediaNews Group puts Mike Rosen column at center of copyright suit

Dean Singleton.​Last month, we noted that Denver Post and MediaNews Group execs weren't eager to discuss a copyright-infringement warning published by the paper. At the time, we asked these three questions: "So... what prompted the Post to rattle this saber? Are lawsuits imminent? And against ... More >>

Denver Post, MediaNews Group executives not eager to talk about copyright-violations warning

Dean Singleton.​On Sunday, the Denver Post published "Notice to Readers About Denver Post Copyright Protections" -- although readers weren't really the target audience. The piece is actually a bellicose warning to content thieves who reproduce Post stories or photos without permission. So... w ... More >>

"Reductions in staff" at Denver Post subsidiary Metro Mountain Media

Some of the publications that have been put out by Metro Mountain Media.​MediaNews Group, the Dean Singleton-led company that owns the Denver Post and dozens of other newspapers around the country, recently announced that its holding company, Affiliated Media, would seek bankruptcy protection ... More >>

A letter to Dean Singleton from a former employee who thinks his paywall ideas are crazy

Dean Singleton wants to charge for delivery on the Internet, too.​As the newspaper industry continues to struggle, more and more attention is being paid to the paywall strategy being promoted MediaNews Group boss (and Denver Post publisher) Dean Singleton. He plans to start charging readers fo ... More >>

Colorado on NPR's bucket list

Boulder's Karl Hanzel, as seen in a photo by NPR correspondent Jeff Brady. National Public Radio has told a couple of prominent national stories through a Colorado prism in recent days. Last week, the service offered "News For Sale?," a report about the growing movement to charge for online informa ... More >>

Is the Denver Post's circulation really holding steady?

In a Monday Q&A, Dean Singleton, the CEO of MediaNews Group and de facto owner of the Denver Post, insisted that the Post is retaining 95 percent of former Rocky Mountain News subscribers -- and he added that the paper isn't suffering the 5-15 percent declines striking most other major metro daili ... More >>

The Westword.com blog shortcut, May 18 edition

Photo by Soren McCartyThe Conchords in flight. Did they play "Albi the Racist Dragon?" Today in Backbeat Online: • Over the weekend: Flight of the Conchords at Red Rocks. • Moving Pictures: the Sexy Convicts, Lyin' Bitch, the Get Down, Vitamins, the Swayback, Ian Cooke, Young Coyotes. • Over ... More >>

Bill Ritter goes to the dogs

Photo courtesy of Nestlé Purina"Could somebody remind me why I wanted this job?" Before Bill Ritter co-hosted a tribute to MediaNews Group CEO and Denver Post publisher Dean Singleton, who's hardly a fan of his policies, he appeared at a photo opportunity with a dog. Yep, Ritter joined Dealer, a M ... More >>

This just in: Newspaper lovers still exist

The conversation took place at Parker's Warhorse Inn. Covering the troubles in the newspaper industry can be mighty dispiriting: I sometimes feel like I spend my days writing the obituary for my own career. No wonder I felt such trepidation when accepting an invitation from the folks at the Douglas ... More >>

Q&A with Denver Post editor Greg Moore

Photo by J. KnightDenver Post editor Greg Moore at the February 26 press conference that announced the closure of the Rocky Mountain News. During the period of time between the December announcement that the Rocky Mountain News had been put up for sale and the February press conference revealing th ... More >>

Updated: Pay cuts at Boulder Daily Camera

Update, 4:45 p.m.: The initial version of this blog was based on information provided by a source that has been extremely reliable over a period of several years. However, I just received a call from Al Manzi, president and publisher of the Boulder Daily Camera, and CEO of Prairie Mountain Publish ... More >>

Loss of Rocky Mountain News doesn't add up to big subscription savings -- but I'm not complaining

Although the closing of the Rocky Mountain News was an unfortunate development for the city in general, at least its disappearance seemed sure to save a double subscriber like me some big bucks. But no: Yesterday, I received a card in the mail that read as follows: Notice of change in subscriptio ... More >>

Denver Post chairman and MediaNews Group CEO Dean Singleton responds to this week's Message column

Dean Singleton. Say what you will about Denver Post chairman and MediaNews Group CEO Dean Singleton (and plenty of his critics have, and will continue to do so): He's among the most accessible and engaged of all media magnates -- and he's not afraid to push back when he feels he's been misinterpret ... More >>

The Westword.com blog shortcut, March 6 edition

The Game. And now, without further ado... Today in Backbeat Online: • Q&A with the Game. • Little Fyodor celebrates a quarter-century of zaniness. • Lee Ball, RIP. • Next Astrophagus gig to feature Astrophagus playing, uh, its own songs? • Diamond Boiz crew ready to bust through. • The ... More >>

Highlights from the goodbye-to-the-Rocky Mountain News press conference

J. KnightE.W. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne addresses the media after announcing the Rocky would close after Friday's issue. Reporter Lynn Bartels's colleagues at the Rocky Mountain News warned her not to try exiting the Denver Newspaper Agency building through the main lobby. After all, the place was sw ... More >>

Stephen Keating on Denver Post job cuts, his new project at MediaNews Group

Photo by Brett Amole.Stephen Keating circa 2003, after he'd just been named business editor of the Post. "Six Major Layoffs at the Denver Post," a blog published yesterday afternoon, noted Stephen Keating among the half-dozen supervisors let go by the broadsheet. However, his affiliation with the p ... More >>

Could the Rocky Mountain News spend another month-plus in limbo?

Anyone hoping for quick answers from an E.W. Scripps conference call held this morning (and noted previously in the blog "Rocky Mountain News Editor John Temple on the Paper's Future: 'We Have No Idea'") wound up disappointed. As detailed in typically complete fashion by Rocky business scribe Davi ... More >>

Six major layoffs at the Denver Post

Stephen Keating. Six major layoffs took place today at the Denver Post, with all of those involved in non-union positions. They are: Stephen Keating, the former editor of the Post's political website, PoliticsWest.com, who will continue to work on a project for Post-owner MediaNews Group; assistant ... More >>

Dean Singleton's giant balls

This morning, both Denver dailies feature articles spurred by a Denver Post memo sent out in response to "Scripps Says Post Violates JOA," a January 28 Rocky Mountain News report based on a leaked letter reportedly penned by two executives at E.W. Scripps, the Rocky's owner. The latter piece, by s ... More >>

Leaked letter reveals deep problems at Denver Post, Denver Newspaper Agency

The story about the possible sale of the Rocky Mountain News by its owner, E.W. Scripps, continues to evolve in unexpected and fascinating ways -- and many of the developments have come to our attention via the Rocky 's own reporting. Case in point: Today's article "Scripps says Post Violates JOA" ... More >>

The latest from the Rocky Mountain News grapevine about the paper's future

The silence has been deafening in regard to the possible sale of the Rocky Mountain News -- at least officially. The last article in the Rocky itself about potential buyers appeared way back on December 24; that piece noted that a "deal book" of financial and demographic information had been sent ... More >>

Denver Newspaper Agency's deadline day could get bloody

A week from tomorrow, January 16, is the day by which MediaNews Group chieftain Dean Singleton and execs at the Denver Newspaper Agency say they need to secure $18 million in labor savings prior to renegotiating $130 million in debt. "If that fails," says a letter penned by DNA senior human resour ... More >>

Help the Denver Post by paying extra for Obama's Mile High Moment

As you've probably heard, MediaNews Group head and de facto Denver Post owner Dean Singleton is hoping to save $20 million in wages by tinkering with a union agreement not due to expire until March 2010. At least you did if you read our December 15 blog "Denver Newspaper Guild Almost Mum on Renego ... More >>

The Denver connections to today's groundbreaking Detroit newspaper announcement

Today, the Detroit News and the Detroit Free-Press announced that they will reduce home delivery of their products to three days a week: Thursday, Friday and Sunday. It's a radical move that's got plenty of Denver connections and correlations. The Detroit papers are linked by a joint-operating ag ... More >>

Denver Newspaper Guild almost mum on renegotiating Denver Post and Denver Newspaper Agency contract

Another new development in the crazy world of Denver newspapers: Shortly after news broke that Moody's Investor Services had downgraded the credit rating of MediaNews Group, the owner of the Denver Post, MediaNews head Dean Singleton asked unions to open negotiations on new labor contracts as earl ... More >>

The Rocky Mountain News' John Temple on the alleged closure meeting

The current Westword includes a feature article about the Rocky Mountain News, which was recently put up for sale, as well as a sidebar about the marquee Rocky talent most likely to leap to the Denver Post in the event of a closure and a look into the mysteries of the joint-operating agreement tha ... More >>

Rocky Mountain News put up for sale

It's the sort of headline most media observers in this area have been anticipating for quite some time, but it's still a shock to see it in print: "Rocky Mountain News For Sale." The article, published moments ago on the Rocky's website, quotes from a press release in which Rich Boehne, president ... More >>

Dean Singleton's outsourcing ideas taken to their logical conclusion

This past weekend, the New York Times published "A Penny For My Thoughts? ," a Maureen Dowd column that focused on James Macpherson, publisher of the online publication Pasadena Now. To save money, Dowd writes, Macpherson sacked his staff of seven Pasadena-based staffers and replaced them with six ... More >>

Pensions will be frozen for managers at Denver Post, Denver Newspaper Agency

It's getting chilly for management pensions at the Post. Yesterday, multiple sources confirm, managers at the Denver Post and the Denver Newspaper Agency learned that their pensions would be frozen beginning on January 1. Tracy Simmons of the Denver Newspaper Guild stresses that the freeze wil ... More >>

Dean Singleton to the Newspaper Industry: Stop Your Whining

The Post Takes Opinions Above the Fold

For the first time since 2005, the Post's editorial board opines on the front page.

The Post and Rocky Attempt a Cover-Up

Brightly colored advertising stickers on the front of the Denver dailies are part of a national trend to turn page one into a billboard.

More Messages: Changing the Scripps

No Bias

A misbegotten experiment implodes.

Radio Age

Are young listeners abandoning broadcast radio?

The Message

Hip Hope

The Message

Hard Ball

The Message

Brave New World

The Message

Here's to the good, the bad and the funny in Denver's most newsworthy newsroom.

The Message

Diverse Opinions

Green-Light Specials

If the FCC loosens its rules, will media giants go on a radio-and-TV shopping spree? Absolutely.

Pack Mentality

A media column about secondhand smoke stirs up a cloud of controversy.

Don't Bogart That Joint

It's our turn to take a hit off the Post/News merger.