(Vancouver, WA) Columbian considers Chapter 11 bankruptcy (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Poynter Online ^ | October 9, 2008 | Staff

[abb]

The Columbian plans to relocate its operations to former offices in downtown Vancouver, Washington so it can generate more revenue from a new building constructed by publisher Scott Campbell and his wife. Campbell says the company is trying to negotiate a new loan with its lender or will seek temporary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors.

[abb]

Thursday morning good news

[abb]

Original article.

http://www.columbian.com/article/20081008/BIZ01/810089971/-1/biz

Columbian plans return to former offices
Julia Anderson
Swept by the double tsunami of a sour economy and rising new building costs, The Columbian Publishing Co. today announced plans to relocate its business and newsroom operations to former offices at 701 W. Eighth St. in downtown Vancouver.

The move, according to Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell, is out of the need to generate more revenue from a new six-story building constructed by Campbell and his wife, Jody, which opened south of Esther Short Park in January. The options, Campbell said, are to either lease all of the 118,000-square-foot $30 million structure or to sell it. At present, Columbian newsroom, advertising and circulation operations occupy four of the six floors in the building at 415 W. Sixth St.

In order to make the difficult financial transition, Campbell said the company is trying to negotiate a new loan with its lender or will seek temporary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors. Chapter 11 gives a business time to reorganize and return to financial health.

“Like many newspapers across the country, The Columbian is facing a difficult business situation given the economic environment, but we are fortunate to have the resources that allow us to respond with economical solutions,” Campbell said. “The Columbian is confident it has the ability to come out of this situation and continue to be the trusted news source for Clark county as it has been for more than 100 years.”

Campbell is the third generation of his family to operate the newspaper purchased by his grandfather, Herbert Campbell in 1921.

“We strongly believe that we will be successful through this transition,” Campbell said. “With the newspaper and our Web site, we continue to be market leaders for both advertisers and readers. We reach many more customers than either TV or radio in this market.”

The Columbian’s move is predicated on the two-pronged difficulty of very tight credit markets and a downturn in advertising revenue in the newspaper business, Campbell said.

The relocation to 701 Eighth St. will take time and is not expected until the first quarter of 2009. The Columbian, which has experienced two rounds of layoffs in the past 10 months, employs a total of 282 people including 12 employees of the Camas Post-Record, which it also owns.

[abb]

ping

[abb]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/business/media/09ledger.html?ref=business
Employees Agree to Buyouts and Work Concessions to Save Star-Ledger in Newark

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 09, 2008
A way to stay alive on weak ad days
With desperate times demanding desperate measures, a growing number of newspapers are considering the most desperate measure of all: Skipping print editions on the days of the week when ad sales are the weakest.

snip

[hunter112]

I was wondering what was going on when they built that new building. Newspapers are still important for fishwrap out in the Northwest, but for all other reasons, they’re declining. I say this with a bit of sadness, I used to deliver the Columbian for three years back when I was a teenager in Vancouver.

[all the best]

SO more people will be getting their news from CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, Oprah, People, Springer, MTV, etc. Until yesterday I thought decline of newspapers was good news. Not necessarily. People are not turning from newspapers because they don’t like liberal bias. Wishful thinking. TV sources have exploded over the last few decades. There used to be 3 1/2 hour network news shows every day. Now in addition we have several 24/7 cable news sources PLUS internet. Who needs to spend money on newspaper. Younger people never touch the things.
All this glee over the newspapers decline is delusional. It also means news sources are more centralized and controlled.

[abb]

I say this with a bit of sadness, I used to deliver the Columbian for three years back when I was a teenager in Vancouver.

I understand the sadness. I can recall the newspapers of my youth back before they were anti-American hate sheets. But I didn't leave them - they left me.

[bert]

......Campbell says the company is trying to negotiate a new loan.....

I would hate to be in business right now. There is no new loan to renegotiate. The bank must decide...... do we work it out or do we shut them down.Do we continue to loan short term for day to day and payment to the bank holding the mortgage or we just stop it all.

For this paper it has been a swift and sudden worsening of the cancer of inadequate revenue stream. Bankruptcy will probably not solve the problem.

[abb]

It also means news sources are more centralized and controlled.

I disagree. And as evidence, I cite this very discussion board on which we post. And many thousands of other blogs and discussion boards available today that formerly were not.

[NRG1973]

If Obama wins the election he will enact another bailout...for the Mainstream Media.

[elder5]

Won’t be long ‘till we pay 75 cents for the paper. The (wh)oregoian just went up last week.

[Milhous]

It also means news sources are more centralized and controlled.

Data actually indicates the exact opposite. Pay particular attention to the last line of the Universal McCann study.

Blogs are Pervasive and Part of Our Daily Lives

There have been a number of studies aimed at understanding the size of the Blogosphere, yielding widely disparate estimates of both the number of blogs and blog readership. All studies agree, however, that blogs are a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream.

The numbers vary but agree that blogs are here to stay

• comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)
  • Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
  • Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million
  • Total internet audience 188.9 million
• eMarketer (May 2008)
  • 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)
  • 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)
• Universal McCann (March 2008)
  • 184 million WW have started a blog | 26.4 US
  • 346 million WW read blogs | 60.3 US
  • 77% of active Internet users read blogs

[abb]

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/media/e3i0034ee78eaa8019f5414a930e6c0307f
Academy to Allow Film Ads on Oscars
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http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/dreamworks-will-be-downsizing-about-15/
DreamWorks Will Be Downsizing 15%

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003872622
Newspapers Weigh Alternatives to AP: But Do They Add Up?

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003872666
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http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=92228
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http://cityfile.com/dailyfile/2314
Is Portfolio On the Rocks?

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Overnights_50/ABC_s_Wednesday_lineup_sinks_again.asp
ABC’s Wednesday lineup sinks again

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB122347768925815445.html?mod=blogs
Several More Papers Make Cutbacks

[abb]

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=123&aid=152015
Grisly Details of Newspaper Advertising Now Emerging

[sionnsar]

Thanks to abb for the ping.

Say WA? Evergreen State ping

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.

Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.

[Jack Black]

The Columbian is very liberal leaning, particularly on important local issues. They are very much controlled by or part of the local democratic party elite.

The consistently support raising taxes to fund utopian big-government programs.

Their latest cause is forcing us to get light rail, which is basically something our neighbors across the river in Oregon are forcing on us.

Your comments are thoughtful, but in this case ... we really might be better off without the Columbian. Many people (including me) HAVE stopped buying this paper because of it’s liberal bias.

The comments on their own web site are running 70% towards “serves you right, good riddance, if you weren’t totally in bed with the dems we might still read you ...”

The just did their election endorsements. I believe it was 100% Dems.