Right now The New York Times is hemmoraging cash and so are all the major liberal media players in America. From Seattle to Boston, and Atlanta to L.A., these organizations are retrenching, shutting down, laying off staff, working with bankers and apologizing to their unions -all while consistently losing both audience and advertiser share.
In contrast, media outlets widely seen as right wing are generally making money: whether it's Fox, The Wall Street Journal, or the drudge report these guys are gaining audience share.
The difference is simple: outside the blogosphere and right wing radio, the major "right wing" media players generally try to be fairly objective - but the liberal media have largely abandoned this ideal in favor of advocacy through mis-representation, censorship, and the use of personal attacks to shut down opposing voices. Most, for example, uncritically accept obvious falsehoods on issues from climate science to taxation and defence; consciously use the word "Republican" as a pejoritive; fawn over anyone visibly supporting the liberal line regardless of credentials, track record, or agenda; provide time, space, and legal cover for vicious ad hominem attacks on republican stars like Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich; and refuse to report things like the July 4th tea parties, the applause George Bush gets everywhere he goes, or mistakes made by leading democrats.
Ask your friends which news sources they believe and you'll see the enormous opportunity here: because few think any news source honest, and most are angry about it.
The right thing to do, therefore, is for a group of investors to buy or build a national media player and focus it entirely on the business of making money through the practice of traditional, independent, journalism.
Among existing businesses, Gannet Communications, - owners of USAtoday, 21 television stations, 88 smaller newspapers, and eight properties, like The Army Times, serving DOD markets, looks like the obvious choice for a buy strategy. All in, it would cost perhaps a billion and a half with a third of that in cash from the buying syndicate and most of that going to cover initial hiring and firing, marketing, and product re-alignment.
Buying an existing media business is quick and effective, but building one is also possible. There are a lot of good people, cheap assets, and under served advertisers coming out of current major player failures. Such a strategy would be slower and riskier, but possibly less expensive - and, either way, the investor opportunity here is huge: and the republican opportunity is even bigger.
Consider, for example, the impact of changing this introductory paragraph from USAtoday's coverage of the July 4th tea parties from the original:
Thousands of protesters yelled and jeered Wednesday in cities from Anchorage to Atlanta as part of "Tax Day Tea Parties" aimed at expressing outrage over government spending.
to:
Millions of protesters gathered by their thousands Wednesday in cities from Anchorage to Atlanta as part of "Tax Day Tea Parties" aimed at expressing outrage over government spending.
Honest reporting: it's a market opportunity because it's missing and in demand, and a republican opportunity because it's all republicans need to win.