Apologies for the shortness of this diary. Many here have been following the decline of American newspapers and may not yet have heard the news out of Philadelphia: The Daily News (of which our own attytood* is a part) will live, albeit as "an edition" of the Inquirer.
Edit: The owner of both newspapers, Philadelphia Newspapers LLC has filed for bankruptcy.
A little more below the fold.
* Lest anyone think I'm outing attytood, he links to his own published work in his diaries here.
From philly.com:
The Daily News will soon be printed as an edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, though the two papers will maintain separate news staffs and still compete for stories, officials of Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns both papers announced yesterday.
Philadelphia Media Holdings CEO Brian Tierney said the change will save money on wire services by allowing the publications to act as a single subscriber, and will be helpful in selling advertising.
...
For the two papers to be regarded as a single publication by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, which monitors newspaper sales, the phrase "an edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer" will appear under the Daily News logo on the front page. The change takes effect March 30.
And from Attytood, Will Bunch's Daily News blog:
Twenty-five years ago, I was working down at the Birmingham (Ala.) News but would have killed (it's an expression) to get a job at the Philadelphia Inquirer, this newspaper that was winning a Pulitzer Prize or two year after year after year.
Um, times change, but in a weird way that old dream kind of came true tonight, as we learned that by the end of this month the Daily News will be identified as an "edition" of the Inquirer. What does that mean? Here's a caveat: I wasn't at the meeting where Brian Tierney, the CEO of our parent company Philadelphia Media Holdings, and our publisher Mark Frisby announced it, so what I know is second-hand.
But -- with that caveat -- it will not mean any changes in staffing or even the newspaper we produce every day (well, except Sunday, duh). It's just that the logo on Page 1 will identify the Daily News as an edition of the Inquirer. Now, so far your reaction is probably the same as mine....huh? There may be something to it, however. For one thing, there may be some unexpected opportunties for cost-savings, such as with the fee that two separate papers were paying the Associated Press. Also, with all the bankruptcy madness, the DN may be a little less exposed under the Inquirer's wing.
Will, I wish you and your newsroom colleagues the best. My fingers are crossed for all of you.