This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Keeping track of the parallel declines of fossil fuel and fossil newspaper industries.
" ... Pickens is a billionaire oil investor who still travels, talks markets and tapes podcasts. He has bought and built companies, but he's still seeing new things.
"Since 1980, he recalled in an interview, he has watched oil prices plunge five times worldwide. Four of those times, he said, Saudi Arabia stepped in to cut its oil production, balance the market and bring prices up again. The fifth time — this time — the Saudis kept pumping away, prices stayed low, and American companies let their drilling grind to a near-stop. Pickens doesn't expect them to resume anytime soon, even if prices come up a bit.
" 'It'll be hard to start the United States back up,' he said.
"He was more blunt over dinner. 'The industry,' he said, 'is dead in the water.'...
" ... They asked whether presidential candidates should be promising to open more public land to drilling. 'No, hell no,' he said, 'we don't need public land.'..."
— New York Times closes editing and press operations in Paris, cuts up to 70 jobs — New York Times memo via Jim Romenesko
" ... Another goal of the proposal is to simplify our production process and enable us to produce the paper far more efficiently than we do today, a step that is critical to its financial viability. Without these proposed changes, we do not believe that an international print New York Times is sustainable over the long term. ..."
— Ford Plans Long-Range Electric Car to Compete With Tesla, GM — Keith Naughton |Bloomberg
" ... 'We want to make sure that we're either among the leaders or in a leadership position,' Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields told analysts and reporters on a conference call Thursday. 'When you look at some of the competitors and what they've announced, clearly, that's something we're developing for.' He didn't say when Ford would start producing the vehicle. ..."
— Coal downturn hits railroads hard — Elizabeth Shogren | High Country News
"In the latest ripple effect from the coal industry's troubles, the federal Surface Transportation Board canceled a proposed railroad in southeastern Montana on Tuesday. The Tongue River Railroad project was designed to connect the proposed Otter Creek coal mine to an existing BNSF Railway line. Arch Coal, one of several large U.S. coal companies that have filed for bankruptcy, pulled its application for mine permits last month but Arch and its partners still wanted the federal government to keep the proposal for the railroad alive, in hopes that they could revive the mine project in the future. Ranchers, who have fought the rail line for decades, appealed to the Surface Transportation Board to reject the railroad, given the bankruptcies and the weak market for coal. ..."
— Just how big will Gannett get? — Rich Edmonds | Poynter
"Gannett's expansion goal is to be the number one news network in the country as measured by ComScore metrics, CEO Bob Dickey told analysts in an earnings conference call Wednesday.
"The company can achieve that with a presence in 125 to 140 markets, he added. It won't take 200. Gannett already has the largest newspaper related sites and trails Time Inc., Turner Digital (the owner of CNN), Comcast NBC Universal and CBS Interactive, according to ComScore.
"If Gannett is successful in its bid for Tribune Publishing and its 11 major dailies, that will move holdings close to the low end of the range (with 107 regional papers in hand already). ...
" ... Unusual for these kinds of calls, Dickey spent substantial time in his prepared remarks talking about journalism quality and prizes won by USA TODAY network papers and the newly added Journal Media Group. Several of Dickey's interviews and letters related to the Tribune Publishing emphasize that journalism excellence is part of the point of the proposed acquisition."
— The Berkshire Eagle sold to local group — Katheleen Conti | The Boston Globe
"The Berkshire Eagle, the small Pittsfield daily newspaper that covers a big swath of Western Massachusetts, said Thursday it is being sold to a group of local businessmen after being owned for more than 20 years by national chain Digital First Media. ..."
Sound familiar?
And, of course:
— Billionaire Saves Paper — Colby Frazier | City Weekly
" ... This intrigue—how the Huntsmans will behave as newspaper owners and caretakers of an institution that many view as being about as important to the survival of democracy in Utah as a temple marriage is to a celestial-bound Mormon—made quick material for debate when the purchase became public.
"But those who counseled Huntsman on the wisdom of buying the paper say the family's desires for the Tribune are pure, cemented upon the principle that preserving an independent voice—a counterweight to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-owned Deseret News—is well worth their money. ..."