Tag: Media

Mar 2

2023

The latest Buffalo News woes

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Lee Enterprises, the parent company of The Buffalo News, has filed its overdue annual  financial report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its failure to meet a filing deadline, due to what Lee said was its failure to “maintain effective internal control over financial reporting,” prompted a threat in December from the Nasdaq Stock Market to delist the company. That would mean no more stock sales for the publicly traded company.  So it’s good news that Lee has finally complied. There’s not a lot of good news in its 10-K report, however, certainly not enough to allay fears about what’s[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Feb 26

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Subscribe to WeeklyPost, if you don’t already. There’s more heat being applied to industrial development agencies. We’ve already reported on reform legislation being championed by Sen. Sean Ryan. Last week, the Albany Times Union reported that the chairman of the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations is launching an investigation into how IDA’s dole out tax breaks. Sen. James Skoufis is hot and bothered by a deal in Orange County. He’s likely to blow a gasket if he looks into the deals approved of late by the Niagara County IDA, subsidies for everything from fast food restaurants to market rate housing to a warehouse for Amazon, which[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Feb 20

2023

Worse news yet at The Buffalo News

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I’m writing this in a state of shock at the announcement The Buffalo News will no longer be printed in Buffalo. Lee Enterprises, the paper’s parent company, reported Monday that it is outsourcing its printing and distribution operations to the Cleveland Plain Dealer in October. Some 160 employees will lose their jobs.  This is a punch to the gut. The News is hardly alone in shuttering its printing plant. Down the Thruway in Rochester, the Democrat and Chronicle recently announced that it’s closing its print operation. The paper will be printed in New Jersey. New Jersey! The Syracuse Post-Standard is[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Feb 19

2023

Monday Morning Read

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This Monday Morning Read, and a whole lot more, is available as a Sunday morning read by subscribing to our email newsletter. Erie County Comptroller Mickey Kearns improperly spent over $100,000 of taxpayer funds to promote his re-election campaign last year, according to a report by Michael Wooten of WGRZ. He faces mega-fines for his transgressions. Kearns’ defense: ignorance of the law. This from a guy who is apparently preparing to run for county executive. The toxic Tonawanda Coke site is being cleaned up in preparation of redevelopment. And what a mess there is to clean up. The escalating price of NFL franchises: The Bills sold[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Feb 14

2023

More bad news regarding The Buffalo News

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The downward spiral at The Buffalo News appears to be gaining speed. Last week I reported the departure of four veteran reporters and editors and the pending outsourcing of work performed by the newsroom’s five-person design team. That reduces the newsroom staff to some 65 journalists, down from more than 200 back in the day. The News has since asked the remaining staff to accept a two-week, unpaid furlough. The paper’s managers and other nonunion employees have no choice. The company must negotiate the furloughs with its unions, including the Buffalo Newspaper Guild, which represents what’s left of the newsroom[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Feb 12

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Get Jim Heaney’s recommended readings, and a recap of Investigative Post’s reporting for the previous week, via email on Sunday mornings by subscribing here. WGRZ anchor, and in this case, muckraker, Maryalice Demler reported on dirty dealings behind closed doors by the North Tonawanda City Council. Sweetheart waterfront leases, negotiated on the q.t., to benefit political insiders. By now you’ve probably read about Kim Pegula’s health issues. Her daughter Jessica wrote a moving first-hand account for The Players’ Tribune. It’s becoming apparent Kim will not be able to carry on once her much-older husband is no longer in the picture and, as I previously[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Feb 5

2023

The Buffalo News is hemorrhaging journalists

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When Warren Buffett sold The Buffalo News, employees took solace in the fact the new owners could have been worse. I did, too. At least it wasn’t Alden Global Capital, the Darth Vader of newspaper chains. Nearly three years into the new regime, it’s becoming apparent that it might as well have been Alden, as Lee Enterprises is following the same playbook. Cut the staff. Sell off the real estate. Strip the business of what other assets can be liquidated.  Last week, four newsroom employees, with a collective 140 years of experience, “retired.” It was that or see less-tenured colleagues[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Feb 5

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Each Sunday, Jim Heaney summarizes the reporting of Investigative Post from the previous week and recommends other stories to read – along with his commentary. The email newsletter is free. Subscribe here. When officials announced a couple of weeks ago the framework of a community benefits agreement for the new Bills stadium, I asked Geoff Kelly to analyze the deal. He poked around, found nothing had been committed to a public document, and said it was premature to draw any conclusions. That didn’t stop Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz from praising the CBA and for The Buffalo News editorial board from[...]

Posted 1 year ago
Investigative Post

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