Brian Tierney Takes Ad-vantage
Playing the "keep it local" card in the fight for Philly's newspapers.
It’s come to this: Brian Tierney needs you to save him from his own failed management of the Inquirer and Daily News.
That’s the upshot of the suddenly ubiquitous “Keep It Local” ad campaign in those papers and on Philly.com: Tierney, the old public relations master, hopes that scaring the public about the perils of bean-counting out-of-town ownership will inspire a groundswell of grassroots support—in the form of an online petition, always a reliable gauge of public sentiment—that will convince a bankruptcy judge to let him stay in charge.
If he’s forced out, the “Keep It Local” campaign suggests, the Daily News will be shuttered and the Inquirer gutted into a fancier version of the Metro.
“Are you ready for a weakened news gathering force led by a management group with little or no connection to the place you live your life?” one ad warns.
Sounds awful. Too bad Tierney—the local owner—has already weakened his newspapers through layoffs and cutbacks, or the argument might have more force. But that’s not really a great sales pitch: Local ownership! We’re bad, but it could be worse!
Maybe it’s time to bring on the out-of-town bean counters.
It’s generally true that local ownership can be better for a newspaper and its readership than some out-of-town corporation. Deep-pocketed families like the Sulzbergers in New York and the Grahams in Washington D.C. tend to be slower to cut staff and weaken the news product in rough economic times. This year’s big newspaper closures—Denver’s Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle’s Post-Intelligencer —have come at the hands of corporate chains whose community commitment might’ve been ... lacking.
On the other hand, out-of-town corporate ownership probably was the best thing that ever happened to the Inquirer. It was after Walter Annenberg sold the paper to Knight Newspapers in 1969 that the Inky entered its journalistic glory days: 17 Pulitzers in 15 years. And while Annenberg became something of a hero late in life—thanks to his charitable trusts that fund journalism schools and other reporting endeavors—the truth is that he notoriously ran the Inquirer with an eye toward promoting his friends and settling scores: The old Philadelphia Warriors went uncovered for a season because Annenberg was pissed at the NBA team for obscure business reasons.
Local ownership, it seems, doesn’t always serve a community well.
To be fair, there’s no evidence Tierney has ever meddled with the news pages of the Inquirer and Daily News in such a manner. And despite the cutbacks and belt-tightening since then, the reporters at those newspapers continue to do good work: The Daily News ’ “Tainted Justice” series exposing cop corruption has been invaluable, as has the Inquirer ’s coverage of cronyism at the city’s Board of Revision of Taxes.
But the Inquirer ’s editorial pages are now blessed with overpaid and discredited right-wing hacks like former Sen. Rick Santorum and torture advocate John Yoo.
Tierney has made a series of other bad choices. Like taking a pay raise and a $350,000 bonus right before the newspapers went into bankruptcy—and right after employee unions had agreed to give up their own raises. The newspapers also paid $50,000 to a company co-owned by Tierney’s son, Brian Tierney, Jr.—an online marketing company that, bizarrely, didn’t have a website of its own. It’s that type of appalling judgment which suggests Tierney cares less about serving the community and more about feathering his own nest.
The rest of the industry has taken notice. John Temple, former publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, blasted Tierney in a recent blog posting and warned Philadelphians not to get too “sentimental” about local ownership.
“If you were a shareholder, would you want somebody who took a pay raise when his operation was plunging under water running the company?” Temple wrote. “How could you trust that he would put the best interest of the company over his own?”
How indeed? The truth is this: By filing for bankruptcy, Tierney has already put the bean counters in charge of the I nquirer and Daily News. Given the economy and the general state of the news business, more cuts are probably coming at those papers no matter who runs them.
Keep it local? Don’t keep it local? It might not matter. Tierney, though, doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. ■
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1. cn2004 said... on Sep 2, 2009 at 01:38PM
“'But the Inquirer ’s editorial pages are now blessed with overpaid and discredited right-wing hacks like former Sen. Rick Santorum and torture advocate John Yoo. ' yes, and black left wing racists quota hires like annette john-hall and george curry. hey joel, guess we know what your bias is.”
2. jack said... on Sep 2, 2009 at 04:18PM
“So if he keeps the paper will Tierney give himself another raise or higher more relatives who know nothing about the internet to help philly.com?”
3. Anonymous said... on Sep 3, 2009 at 09:55AM
“Giving himself those raises and paying his son pale in comparison to hiring Rich Santorum to offer opinions on the editorial page. One can only hope that someone with journalistic and business intergrity will eventually run this newspaper.”
4. Fante said... on Sep 3, 2009 at 10:33AM
“First, it always depends on the owner.
Second, the Inquirer and Daily News are owned and operated almost wholly by people who live in the suburbs and who don't know and don't care about the city, other than to get all the money they while pissing on the city on their way back home. You get absolutely no idea of what it's like to live in Philly by reading the dailies.
Third, Brian Tierney has obviously been pocketing as much money as he can for him and his family while cutting everything.
Fourth, Brian Tierney, through his insane right-wing views, racist attitude, and goofy promotional schemes, has gone out of the way to destroy the paper’s most salable asset: Its integrity.
Fifth, Brian Tierney is crazy. It’s time to stop him before he does anymore damage.
”
5. cn2004 said... on Sep 3, 2009 at 01:02PM
“fante, do you actually read the inquirer? where exactly do you see right wing views? certainly not on the editorial page, which takes a left wing/liberal/obama position on all issues.”
6. Fante said... on Sep 3, 2009 at 02:01PM
“cn2004: It's already been noted some of the extreme and extremely expensive right-wing hacks and failures that Tierney has hired. In addition, that he markets his papers to white-wing radio shows, and that he allows his Web site forums to be havens for extreme white-racists to howl endlessly while anyone who challenges them is kicked off the site.
By your two comments, you've already shown a clear inability to comprehend the English language outside of your own extreme prejudices, so I’ll let you have the last word. I’d rather have a discussion with a piece of furniture.
”
7. Anonymous said... on Sep 4, 2009 at 07:57AM
“joke joke joke.....what paper has an opinion, they don't, they are controlled by wall street and hollywood propagandist...where are the indie papers where are the indie thinkers that. the left right paradigm is winning people. stop reading this rag, whether it be the philly inquirer nyt etc. http://www.americanfreepress.net/ is the paper to read”
8. Discusted Inquirer retiree said... on Sep 4, 2009 at 09:53AM
“Brian Tierney, with the help of the Phila. Teamster union and inept Local and International Newspaper Guild leadership, cut off the Guild's excellent Pension and Healthcare plans in contract "negotiations". This bum should be run out of town. The Local Guild leadership retired and the Internatuional President recently suffered an election defeat. The Local Teamster Union continues to suck-up to Tierney.”
9. cn2004 said... on Sep 4, 2009 at 11:26AM
“hey fante, you wrote 'I’d rather have a discussion with a piece of furniture. ' of course you would. a piece of furniture is on the same intellectual level as you are, and won't disagree with your opinion.”
10. fante said... on Sep 5, 2009 at 09:11AM
“whatever”
11. Wyatt said... on Sep 9, 2009 at 08:16PM
“Fante - Oh yeah, the Inquirer and Daily News are chock full of right-wing slant. That is the funniest thing I have ever read. The good news is that pretty soon, no one will be able to read the Daily News or the Inquirer anymore. Their deaths are of their own making, and I will shed not one tear.”
12. Used to be a Local Reader said... on Sep 13, 2009 at 04:30AM
“Keep it Local is a farce when it comes to PNI. It is not local because Brian Tierney is not and has not since he was a child in Upper Darby, even been a Philadelphian. So let's just get That out of the way.
Mr. Tierney has disappointed me. He has run two major newspapers into the ground. Newspapers that employ some of the best writers in the country.
As he realizes this he takes a 350k bonus and a raise and pays his son's bogus company 50k. Then he declares bankruptcy for PNI.
When you are the publisher of a major, national paper that employs phenomenal writers and you fail, who's to blame? Don't tell me, uh, the Editor in Chief? No, this is someone who does Not know how to run a business.
So let's all cheer for the 350k bonus for poor performance. Nice. Irresponsible at the least but no, not really. Really it's just a negotiable line to "put me in handcuffs, I stole from the assets of the company. But I can explain!"
Oh and he gave Rick Santorum a job.”
13. Fante said... on Sep 15, 2009 at 11:41AM
“Oh Wyatt, you are as reality deprived as your other friend. I won't shed a tear for the papers death either. Nor will I never let you and other right-wing kooks forget that a right-wing loony killed the paper just like he ruined the political career of Sam Katz. Again, you're too stupid and reality deprived to hold a discussion. So have the last word.”
14. Gary Zlotnick-Mailroom SPP said... on Oct 11, 2009 at 07:43PM
“Brian Tierny is no angel, but he is our best choice. I have been an employee of The Inquirer for 34 years and have seen different owners and mananagement teams. Local ownership is always better! Yes, Tierney made cuts and layoffs, but we might have been closed by now if he didn't. He has also brought in a lot of commercial work, which is profitable. I have lost all my overtime, and have't had a raise in 6 years, but I am happy to be working. Besides the financial benefit of being employed, my job has kept me sane, thru a bad marriage, seperation, divorce, near bankruptcy, and major bouts of clinical depression. Having a place to go everyday, having co-workers and friends to be with is priceless. I wish Brian Tierney the best and hope he is successfull. If he isn't the banks will slash wages, benefits, and health and welfare. Brian Tierney is our only hope, God Bless Him.”