The last two weeks have been a harrowing ride for Inquirer and Daily News reporters — and a half-blind one for readers. The papers, along with philly.com, are again for sale.
Philadelphia Media Network (PMN) is in negotiations with a group led by former mayor and governor Ed Rendell, South Jersey Democratic Party boss George Norcross and Flyers owner Ed Snider. The prospect of such powerful owners has reporters worried about editorial independence — especially after top management censored a Feb. 7 blog post by the Daily News' David Gambacorta reporting that mega-developer Bart Blatstein had formed a rival group intending to bid on PMN.
Gambacorta's post was soon replaced with a mysterious statement: "The company is not in discussions with Bart Blatstein" or his group.
PMN vice president Mark Block defended the move, stating that Gambacorta's reporting was bad (it wasn't) and, bizarrely, that the post was a "press release" rather than "an original-content story."
On Feb. 9 philanthropist Ray Perelman announced that he, too, wanted to explore a PMN bid but was blocked from doing so.
It's probably worth noting that Rendell has indicated he will retain Greg Osberg as publisher.
With PMN for sale (which was first reported in the New York Post), reporters are above all concerned about keeping their jobs. Though we are bound to disclose that City Paper has a content-sharing agreement with philly.com, we promise you can stay tuned for more.
