BJ sale is sign of times

Lauren Rich Fine, a media analyst with Merrill Lynch told the Akron Roundtable on Thursday that Advance Publications–potential buyer of the Beacon Journal--has history of running newspapers it owns in nearby markets independently but that may change as the industry is forced to look at saving money through consolidating printing, advertising and other departments.

Advance Publications in New York, parent company of the Beacon Journal's biggest competitor and Ohio's largest newspaper, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, was believed to be among the possible bidders for the BJ.

Fine said that before the Web and cable television, most mediums coexisted without eating much into each other's ad dollars. Because the Internet can be targeted yet reach a wide audience, that has changed, she said, and the Internet is stealing newspapers' bread and butter: classifieds.

In order for the papers to cut costs, she said analysts expect more of the consolidation like the recent sale of Knight Ridder Inc.'s 32 newspapers to McClatchy Co., which in turn put 12 papers - including the Beacon Journal--up for sale.

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