First, he's all wet on Ukraine. (As are, within our biz, various freedom of information and free press foundations here in the US who this spring attacked Putin for all of his restrictions on a free press in Russia, but said bupkis about Zelenskyy's similar actions. I refused to run the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas's column by Kelley Shannon when the Texas Press Association forwarded it for Sunshine Week.) And, I've told Zion, in an exchange of emails, that I think he's all wet. I appreciate his love for Ukrainian music and musical instruments, per the Guardian. I like Qawwali music, but, should the Taliban overrun Pakistan, I'm not going fighting on account of that.
On the press side, though, is where I want to look.
First, the part tied to his wanting to become a mercenary. (Let's call a spade a spade.)
What is he going to claim as the stated value of said paper? I mean, he could have a CNHI brain and be valuing the paper at its worth of 20 years ago. Would make a nice tax deduction for him.
Now, I analyze the nutgrafs of what Zion will reveal before handing the keys over to the right person.
What is "profitable"? Can't be THAT profitable if he's running a one-person operation, as it appears. Unless he's greedy, and too capitalistic to care about "sustainable" including his physical and mental health.
And, per another story, no, it's not THAT profitable.
“I’m going into debt to give the newspaper away and into further debt for a plane ticket to Ukraine,” said Zion.
Does he mean debt as far as income, or as far as assets? If he means the former, that's tautological, unless whatever he's going to do in Ukraine is actually lined up and paid. Ditto for having to buy kit to go there. That said, does he mean assets? Is he borrowing money to do this? That would fit with other things I think about m ore.
What is "sustainable"? 100-hour weeks aren't that, in my book.
I address both as an editor of two weeklies that, combined, run a bit over twice his subscribers and probably the same on rack sales.
I work more than 40 hours a week, tis true. Sometimes, well over But, I'll bet that if I took over postal reports, sales and billing (which I don't do), I could still do it in less than 100 hours a week. Might be 80 at RARE times. Not 100. (I write, edit submitted pieces and one regular "stringer," the former editor at the larger paper, shoot, edit submitted photos, paginate, even build my own ads, and deliver papers to post offices, stores and racks on Thursday mornings. I work more than 40, but nowhere near "killing fields.")
And, Zion's not telling the full staffing truth. Besides "stringers," per that "per another story" link? A former employee is writing sports stories and doing sports photos. Since we have a bigger paper in this county (as he does with New Ulm), I don't try to write great sports stories. But, I'm writing them, not somebody else.
I've long been suspicious, sociologically, of people who claim to work 100 hours a week and say it's metaphorical, not literal. Here's why.
If you worked 15 hours a day six days a week, you'd still have to work 10 hours on Sunday to work 100 hours a week. And, that means the 15 hours a day includes a real working lunch at your desk, or else an actual half an hour or hour of extra work. Taking that specific to a small newspaper? You can't sell ads on Sunday. You can finish stories and layout, and editing freelancers, tis true. You can do paperwork. But, if you have enough of that backlogged to Sunday, are you disorganized?
In other words, he's either REALLY disorganized, or else we're in big swinging dick lie claims about "I work 100 hours a week." And, yes, often, it's not just lies, but big swinging dick lies.
Next, if you're really that beloved in the community, unless your profitability is that skimpy, you could hire somebody part-time for some of this work. Lee, I know that, you know that, and the doorknob knows that. I suspect that's why, almost two months after throwing this out there, you've not had a taker.
Next, why aren't you selling it to your publishing group, instead? And, yes, folks, Lee Zion isn't totally totally alone. The Lafayette Nicollet Ledger, per its website, is part of a five-newspaper group. (Four plus a shopper, to be precise.)
Well, hold on to THAT thought. According to the Minnesota Newspaper Association's current member directory, the other three plus shopper are now part of Van Hee Media. Lafayette ain't, and has no "news group" affiliation listed. Maybe Lee Zion got put on an island by Jeff and Michelle Van Hee? Here's his profile on LinkedIn. Their papers also have new websites listed and are not part of the now-former? Prairie Publishing. (Bizapedia had another point person listed for Prairie as of 1 year ago.) Well, no. Those are "mirror" URLs for Prairie Publishing. And their own website URL doesn't load. I don't know what's behind this, but I suspect some sort of fire behind the smoke. And, yes, I definitely see the above as smoke, and even perhaps smoke that smells of Denmark. The plot thickens more with more Googling. Michelle Van Hee is on Muck Rack ... and (drum roll) listed as having written for the Nicollet Ledger!
Next, I'm looking at one of his e-editions.
10 pages. Not sure how to count billing on the single page of graduates on page 10, as I don't know what the Lions paid to put their logo on that page. Interesting that that is NOT part of a graduation special section.
Not counting it as paid at all and setting aside the page entirely? 2 1/2 pages of 9 pages on adhole, not counting obits because I don't know if they're paid or not. (I've moved back away from counting them as part of an adhole in general.) The larger of my papers does well over that as an ad percentage, in part having a local grocery, in non-summer issues. The smaller runs above that on 8 pages.
He's missing some ad tricks. Like no sports booster pages, for No. 1. (Baseball season was still on in his first week of June issue, albeit ending.) Especially if someone is shooting sports pix for him.
He's running too many puzzles, and too long a community calendar, No. 2. He could whack a page (assuming he can run tighter) right there.
Going through current e-editions?
Two of the other three non-shoppers in that group (IF it's still a group) are SMALLER! As in SIX pages. (And, together, their circ doesn't quite match the Ledger. Tiny!) Sounds like some consolidation is needed is the issue. (Even Madalia, the bigger by ads etc paper, has only the same circ.)
Also, I'd want to know your paper's relationship to the others, per the "smoke."
Then, I'd want to know your background in the business. What were you doing before? I don't see a LinkedIn profile for you. Why did you buy it? How much did you pay? And, how profitable is profitable?
Because more red, or at least yellow, flags have been raised. I see no wife or children mentioned in any of the stories. If you're going into debt to do this, either your paper has made TINY profits or else, even paying off any note to buy the paper, you're not a good manager of personal finances. Second, going into debt to do something like this at age 34 would raise eyebrows. Doing so at age 54? Have you become so burned out that your mental health is in question? Are you hoping for an Ambrose Bierce like denouement to your life? (I personally think Bierce never got to Mexico and speculation that he committed suicide at the Grand Canyon seems likely correct.)
Then, there's one other issue in the Guardian's piece. I've written editorial columns that have been close to "in your face" on political stances. Just wrote one in this week's issue on guns and Texas' social media law, and got lucky that a weird five-justice majority on the Supreme Court still understands the First Amendment. I have NEVER written one that is personally offensive, let alone offering a sexual come-on to my female readership.
Finally, you're 35 miles from Mankato and 80 miles from the Minneapolis part of the Twin Cities. If no laid-off or semi-retired journos are taking you up, there's probably a reason why. Maybe part of it is that despite the "take my paper" claims being straightforward, there's strings attached, like Dave Lewis at Pilot Point, Texas, saying "take over my paper."
So, that's me being a skeptical newspaper editor, Lee Zion.
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