Quick hits: the Gannett/GateHouse merger edition - Entrepreneur Generations

A lot of ink has been spilled over the newly approved Gannett/GateHouse merger. Here's a roundup of some interesting articles, op-eds, editorials, and general thinkpieces on the topic.

The estimated annual cost savings from the merger have increased from about $200 million in July to upwards of $400 billion. Ken Doctor at Harvard University's NiemanLab talks about what those cutbacks could look like in local newsrooms. Read more here.

The merger could deepen America's local news crisis, writes Clara Hendrickson for Brookings. Read more here.

Marc Tracy of The New York Times gives the nuts and bolts of the merger and a decent overview of the major questions surrounding it. Read more here.

Don Seiffert of the Boston Business Journal ominously notes that more than 80% of the 200 dailies in the newly merged Gannett Co. are losing circulation faster than the national average, and 10% are declining at twice that rate or more. Those papers could be first in line for cuts, he speculates. Read more here.

The merger is a good thing because it's a cost-effective way to keep local news alive, writes the editorial board for The Record in Stockton, California. Read more here.

Publisher James Bennett of The Daily Herald in Columbia, Tennessee tries to reassure readers that the paper's focus will remain local, even though the former GateHouse paper is now owned by Gannett, and that readers will benefit from having access to Gannett content. Read more here.

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