Save the SL Tribune

[Moliere]

Anyone have more information on this? The cynic in me says the downfall of the Tribune has more to do with the downfall of all newspapers and not so much sneaky dealings by the DesNews.

[Sullyute]

Here is a Radiowest broadcast on it:

http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/tale-two-papers

[frank ryan]

Anyone have more information on this? The cynic in me says the downfall of the Tribune has more to do with the downfall of all newspapers and not so much sneaky dealings by the DesNews.

The decline in readership makes the Trib susceptible to shady deals with the Desnews

[Pelado]

The decline in readership makes the Trib susceptible to shady deals with the Desnews

How much has Trib readership declined? How does that compare to DesNews readership?

[Pheidippides]

Anyone have more information on this? The cynic in me says the downfall of the Tribune has more to do with the downfall of all newspapers and not so much sneaky dealings by the DesNews.

I think the only thing that might (emphasis on might - just speculating here) make the DNews immune is the willingness of a parent company to take a consistent loss in order to get out the message in that format. Moving from speculation to belief, I think the DNews' ultimate parent company would be willing to do exactly that. In other words, the DNews doesn't have to play by the usual assumptions of profit motivations.

I'm not saying that critically, btw.

While on its surface the new JOA deal looks shady as hell, it might be that the DNews is a more valuable commodity despite lower circulation, since the DNews owns all the hard assets at this point. I'm unsure if this is a case of people crying conspiracy because they are naturally suspicious of the LDS church while the facts are innocent (which has happened before), or an actual conspiracy in which the church is using leverage to get its way in a sneaky manner (which has a lot happened before). If pressed, though, I'd suspect the former. Which is too bad, because I think PFS and Robert Kirby need to be cloned several times.

[UVACoug]

I think the only thing that might (emphasis on might - just speculating here) make the DNews immune is the willingness of a parent company to take a consistent loss in order to get out the message in that format. Moving from speculation to belief, I think the DNews' ultimate parent company would be willing to do exactly that. In other words, the DNews doesn't have to play by the usual assumptions of profit motivations.

I'm not saying that critically, btw.

While on its surface the new JOA deal looks shady as hell, it might be that the DNews is a more valuable commodity despite lower circulation, since the DNews owns all the hard assets at this point. I'm unsure if this is a case of people crying conspiracy because they are naturally suspicious of the LDS church while the facts are innocent (which has happened before), or an actual conspiracy in which the church is using leverage to get its way in a sneaky manner (which has a lot happened before). If pressed, though, I'd suspect the former. Which is too bad, because I think PFS and Robert Kirby need to be cloned several times.

DNews doesn't have lower circulation anymore:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/5...rcent.html.csp

Note that the article is over a year old. The SLTrib has been losing readership rapidly.

All the actual evidence (rather than conspiracy theorizing) seems to point to the owners of the Trib cashing out before the Trib goes under (as several regional papers have done over the last few years, such as the Rocky Mountain News). The Trib has been cutting staff like crazy over the last couple years. The people that would be expected to actually know what went down say the hedge fund approached the DNews about the deal. My understanding is that it has already been approved by the FTC, but the campaign that put out that ridiculous video thinks they can get the decision reversed. There is a lot of anti-Mormonism underlying this "Save the Tribune" campaign (as would be expected). Much of it is overt, and clearly over the top.

And for the record, I think the DNews sucks ... it rarely publishes anything worth reading. The Trib isn't much better, but I think it has an important contrarian role that benefits Utah in general. If it weren't for the Trib, we would still be stuck with that scumbag John Swallow as our A.G. It's incessant efforts to stoke controversy can also be amusing at times.

[myboynoah]

lol. These people should be blaming Al Gore for inventing the Internet.

[Uncle Ted]

lol. These people should be blaming Al Gore for inventing the Internet.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...-graph/253736/

We have better ways of getting our print news...

[Omaha 680]

"Save a paper. Save a state." LOL. Journalists are funny.

[Copelius]

How is this type of advocacy not in violation of the 501(c)(3) rules that prohibit political activities for non-profits? This is not a question of Mike Lee's having earned a 3rd term, he hasn't. This is following the rules that you agreed to live by when you went non-profit. The claim that the Trib doesn't endorse candidates anymore isn't enough.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.

Certain activities or expenditures may not be prohibited depending on the facts and circumstances. For example, certain voter education activities (including presenting public forums and publishing voter education guides) conducted in a non-partisan manner do not constitute prohibited political campaign activity. In addition, other activities intended to encourage people to participate in the electoral process, such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, would not be prohibited political campaign activity if conducted in a non-partisan manner.

On the other hand, voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention.

says the IRS

Is Gehrke not speaking on behalf of the Trib? If editorial endorsement is all that is forbidden, that is a loophole bigger than any of Trump's tax writeoffs.