{"id":179,"date":"2024-11-01T12:58:06","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T12:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2024\/?p=179"},"modified":"2024-11-08T23:55:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T23:55:24","slug":"readers-say-a-media-conglomerate-has-gutted-political-coverage-at-scrantons-only-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2024\/2024\/11\/01\/readers-say-a-media-conglomerate-has-gutted-political-coverage-at-scrantons-only-newspaper\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers Say a Media Conglomerate Has Gutted Political Coverage at Scranton\u2019s Only Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As reporters from around the world descended on Pennsylvania ahead of the 2024 general election, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scranton Times-Tribune<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s office<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was eerily quiet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom \u2013 just blocks from where Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz held a rally on Friday \u2013 may have been buzzing four or eight years earlier, but that\u2019s no longer the case for Scranton\u2019s only daily newspaper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MediaNews Group, a subsidiary of Alden Global Capital, purchased the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times-Tribune <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and three other local dailies for an undisclosed amount in August 2023 and made swift and dramatic cuts to coverage and staff, producing what loyal readers and former writers say are fewer and lower-quality stories, limited local perspectives and softball political reporting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The acquisition is another example of large corporations buying local businesses \u2013 from newspapers to pharmacies to grocery stores \u2013 and undermining local culture, said State Sen. Marty Flynn, who represents Scranton and surrounding areas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Herb Smith, a former sports reporter at the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scranton Times-Tribune, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">couldn\u2019t remember any layoffs at the paper since the Great Recession, and business seemed steady under the stewardship of the Lynett family, who had owned the publication since 1895.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt felt like a family business,\u201d he remembered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MediaNews Group, or MNG, is known in the media industry for acquiring local papers, such as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Denver Post <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and San Jose\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mercury News<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, before reducing headcount and stretching the remaining newsroom thin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smith said he and other longtime journalists received severance options hours into MNG\u2019s ownership. An <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/8i49k\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">archived page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times-Tribune\u2019s<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> website showed 41 staffers last September, a number that has dwindled to 22 today. And they primarily work from home after MNG <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/news\/times-tribune-relocates\/article_baaf2f7c-b39d-57d0-b7a6-de53cbeb465b.html#:~:text=After%2097%20years%2C%20The%20Times,since%201926.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vacated the iconic Times Tower<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> downtown in favor of a smaller space, and shuttered a printing facility in nearby Scott Township.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, with just a week to go until the 2024 general election, some readers say the turmoil at Scranton\u2019s once-revered paper has left a void of political news and analysis in Northeast Pennsylvania \u2013 a key battleground in perhaps the most important swing state in the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Patrick Joyce, 72, and his family have subscribed to the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times-Tribune <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">since the 1950s.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen the acquisition happened it was like turning off a lightswitch,\u201d Joyce said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two-page daily editorial section he loved \u2013 once a home for political discourse in Northeast Pennsylvania, complete with in-house cartoons \u2013 has been cut down, with occasional political commentary spread across a page or less. Joyce said it used to take him 45 minutes to go through the paper. Now, it\u2019s \u201c15 minutes if you\u2019re lucky.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/enewspaper.thetimes-tribune.com\/html5\/reader\/production\/default.aspx?pubname=&amp;pubid=aca43465-7c4f-4286-915f-c2f7a28a85ac\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sunday, Oct. 27 edition<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Opinion section featured a quarter-page editorial imploring young people to vote, a cartoon about a proposed county tax hike and a selection of letters to the editor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Syndicated out-of-state writers have largely replaced local voices in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times-Tribune<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s politics coverage, said former Lackawanna County Elections Director Maryann Spellman Young, a Democrat who once wrote a regular guest column for the paper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, Scrantonites may get national commentary on Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump, but they receive limited information about the down-ballot races and policy discussions impacting their community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Edward S. Condra, the lead publisher for MNG in Eastern Pennsylvania, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Representatives from Alden Global Capital also could not be reached.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scranton native Jason McDonough, 44, said voters in Northeast Pennsylvania, as in many communities, are turning to more polarized national news sources in lieu of a robust local media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019re getting pushed to this tribal politics because there\u2019s no voice in between,\u201d McDonough said, noting that the priorities for Lackawanna County may be different from what voters see in the national media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Electric City has been a one-newspaper town since the early 2000s, but it has always been <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a newspaper town. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The old Times Tower, now vacant aside from the fifth floor, houses an outdoor museum with encased old-style printing presses and plaques celebrating community news. A statue of former editor Edward J. Lynett sits on a bench outside.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt has always been a first-class newspaper,\u201d Joyce said of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times-Tribune.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be sure, not everyone in Scranton saw the Lynetts\u2019 newspaper as a force for balance and localism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dan Naylor, chairman of the Lackawanna County GOP, claimed the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times-Tribune<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has always been left-leaning and, if anything, has been less biased since MNG took over. But Naylor still derided the dangers in flocking only to national networks like CNN or Fox News and never hearing different perspectives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In accordance with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/06\/business\/media\/alden-newspaper-candidate-endorsements.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MNG policy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times-Tribune <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">did not endorse candidates in any of this year\u2019s elections, a controversial decision larger outlets like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Washington Post <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Los Angeles Times <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">also took.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Young conceded that Scranton\u2019s paper tended to endorse Democrats in past elections because the Lynetts are Irish-American Democrats from a deep blue part of town. However, members of the editorial board gave George W. Bush <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/2010\/11\/06\/endorsements-span-political-spectrum\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">their blessing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2000 and backed Republican Lou Barletta in his 2008 congressional race, and they played a crucial role in grilling candidates during endorsement interviews.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf the Democrat was a scoundrel, the Democrat didn\u2019t get endorsed,\u201d Young said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tim O\u2019Hearn, a third-generation Scranton native who now lives in New York, is concerned about the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times-Tribune\u2019<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s cuts in part because Scranton has what he called a history of small-dollar corruption in local politics and business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Former mayor Bill Courtright was released from prison in August, having served almost four years for a public corruption conviction. Earlier this year, a U.S. District Court sentenced former Scranton police union president Paul Helring to six months in prison for wage fraud.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking beyond this election cycle, O\u2019Hearn sees a longer-term risk of losing the investigative reporters needed to hold local officials accountable. He\u2019s suggested his family boycott MNG and cancel their subscription, but that\u2019s harder than it sounds in a place where loyalty runs deep and alternatives are scarce.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s still the best we have,\u201d O\u2019Hearn said. \u201cThere\u2019s no other periodical publication. There\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With election day looming, cuts at Scranton Times-Tribune have left readers feeling less informed about local issues and down-ballot races.<br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2024\/2024\/11\/01\/readers-say-a-media-conglomerate-has-gutted-political-coverage-at-scrantons-only-newspaper\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Readers Say a Media Conglomerate Has Gutted Political Coverage at Scranton\u2019s Only Newspaper<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,5],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-jobs","category-politics","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Readers Say a Media Conglomerate Has Gutted Political Coverage at Scranton\u2019s Only Newspaper - 48 Hours in Electric City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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