LovelandPolitics.com Blog

Christine Kapperman, Managing Editor of the Loveland Reporter-Herald, is said to be resigning her position to take a new job outside the news business. see story

Kapperman followed former Managing Editor Ken Amundson who was laid-off one year ago following the acquisition of the publication by the owners of the Denver Post. Kapperman maintained the newspaper’s status quo of avoiding more controversial news stories that may offend advertisers while sticking mostly to stories brought to the journal by city officials and local businesses.

Evidence of this is a recent email to Loveland’s city attorney by the head of Loveland’s Housing Authority, Sam Betters about planting a positive story about the Mirasol debacle in the Reporter-Herald. Betters explains that he decided to “acknowledge” a determination by HUD that rents at Mirasol are above the limits agreed to when the city accepted the federal grants used to construct the project. Betters even seeks permission from the city attorney to include the content he is planning for the story by what he will say in the interview. Even more disturbing is his reference to LovelandPolitics coverage of the issue indicating it caused two seniors to question him about their potential “windfall.” In other words, the RH story was planted as a rebuttal to the facts being reported by LovelandPolitics.

Had the newspaper not printed the story just as he described it you could dismiss Betters’ email as pretending to have more control than he really does. Instead, one must acknowledge the evidence of Betters’ email shows that some news stories about city matters are being planned in city hall and not the newsroom of the Loveland Reporter-Herald.

We have many times defended our local newspaper against those who want to use this forum as a platform to bash the Loveland Reporter-Herald. However, the recent email and subsequent story bent on refuting or at least obfuscating the facts surrounding Mirasol as reported here are shameful. The Loveland Reporter-Herald needs to decide on whether or not certain news will be reported and not senior staff in city hall.

Christine Kapperman – good riddance. Now can someone write a letter to Al Manzi and Dean Singleton explaining that the public will respond better if the newspaper decides what it will do the reporting instead of the subject of the story?

Albert Manzi is unknown to most residents of Loveland but he is quite possibly the most influential man in the city. Manzi neither works nor lives in Loveland but the influence he now has over our community is unparalleled.

See the complete story about Albert Manzi.

The publisher of the Boulder Daily Camera and President and CEO of Prairie Mountain Publishing (PMP), Manzi is now calling the shots at the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald (RH) regarding everything from what editorial opinions are published, what news headlines run on the front page down to who gets to keep their jobs – from the RH Editor and General Manager to the receptionists.

According to one source familiar with the Reporter Herald’s internal workings. Manzi promised to visit often to get to know the community better. Instead, his infrequent visits have been punctuated with more newspaper staff losing their jobs. Last week, it was RH Editor and General Manager Ken Amundson.

It is with no pleasure we report the unfortunate news that the Loveland Reporter Herald’s new owner, MediaNews, will begin a second round of substantial layoffs at Loveland’s only daily newspaper this month.

One insider reports the entire staff could be as few as 20 people by the end of June this year. This isn’t only terrible news for the people receiving the pink slips but also the community they have served for many years.

Despite our differences at times with the Editorial staff and others we have always maintained a link to the newspaper’s website on our homepage and never endorsed sporadic calls for boycotts by some readers and posters on this blog. We have consistently subscribed to the newspaper and always recognized the enormous contribution they make to our community.

Especially upsetting for some is seeing the current “publisher” and former owner/operator Dean Lehman retain his position with the publication long after much of his staff will have departed.

The demise of the newspaper can be attributed to a poor economy, more sources for news and especially free classifieds online, poor timing of the Berthoud publishing facility investment and especially a rogue Lehman sister who demanded to sell-out her shares at the worst possible time.

None of this should detract from the pride many of those now losing their jobs feel for the thousands of hours they put into making the paper Loveland’s primary news source for the past 44 years. Yes, you read it correctly, even LovelandPolitics staff will miss the local coverage of the Loveland Reporter Herald as the new owners slash the critical staff and try to fool us into believing it is still what it once was.

Finally, MediaNews Group (Owners of the Denver Post) announced today they are acquiring Lehman Communications which includes the Loveland Reporter-Herald (circulation 15,905). LovelandPolitics reported the story first on December 10, 2010.

Our story earned us some angry attacks and over 59 comments (see the Dec. 10, 2010 blog post Denver Post Looking to Acquire RH below) by a community excited about the proposed change and worried by the lack of news. One employee of the RH told us, “I will know it when I read about it in the Denver Post.” In other words, the RH employees were not being informed about the acquisition either.

The Prairie Mountain Publishing Co., a subsidiary of Denver Post owner MediaNews Group, announced the acquisition today thus validating the exclusive December 10 story by LovelandPolitics.

Among the other publications they will acquire in the acquisition as part of Lehman Communications are the Longmont Times-Call (circulation 19,759) and the Canon City Record (circulation 6,356)

The story on the Denver Post webpage included the following quotes;

“MediaNews is excited to add these outstanding, award-winning newspapers to our family of newspapers,” said Dean Singleton, chairman and CEO of MediaNews. “Colorado is our home, and it is rare to have the opportunity to expand in our home state.”

“Now is the time for our company to join a larger regional Colorado based newspaper publishing firm,” said Ed Lehman, publisher of the Lehman newspapers, in a statement. “We are looking forward to great things ahead for the newspapers and the communities we serve as our company joins Prairie Mountain Publishing.”

The Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald (RH) may soon be acquired by newspaper magnet W. Dean Singleton, owner of the Denver Post. see full story

The RH is owned by Lehman Communications, the founders of the Longmont Times-Call newspaper. Lehman acquired the RH through a 1967 merger and has operated the newspaper ever since even sharing editorials, news stories and staff between the two publications. LovelandPolitics has been informed the intended acquisition by Singleton would include all of Lehman Communications.

Singleton is reported to be interested in the 60,000 square foot Lehman Printing Center recently constructed in Berthoud to support newspapers the media magnet operates in small towns from Brush to Estes Park in Colorado. Ironically, the primary motive for an acquisition may be the very reason Lehman Communications is struggling financially and possibly seeking a way out.

Built in 2008 the facility was meant to propel the company forward into new markets but came online just as the economy was tanking and advertising dollars shrinking. Paying back the considerable investment and loans obtained to build the facility have proven a daunting task.

An interesting comment by Longmont community activist reflects an observation common in Loveland as well.

“It is well understood in the Longmont community that the Lehmans and their newspaper have carried the water for those in Longmont with long-standing economic and political interests, whether or not these nterests have been in the best interest of the community as a whole. Should the Times-Call change ownership as rumored, it is hoped that a new publisher will demand a healthier distance between the paper’s management and editorial staff and Longmont’s ’special interests.’ More substantive and investigative reporting would also be welcomed. These changes would likely boost the paper’s circulation and advertising revenues.”

Do you agree or does the pending acquisition and financial struggles of Lehman Communications relate only to the larger national economic crisis?

Please comment.