Given the festive season is now firmly upon us, maybe it’s time for a Xmas teaser.
OK… what have the four following posts got in common?
i) http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44765&c=1
ii) http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44792&c=1
and
And the answer is…?
The Royal Bank of Scotland. Us, in other words.
The poor, down-trodden UK tax-payer who has been left to mop up in the wake of Fred the Shred and the Boys and upon whom the future fortunes of everyone from GMG, to Johnston, to Archant to our old friend in Philly – that chancer-cum-charmer Brian P Tierney – now appear to rest.
Of course, as that media sage Pete Kirwan points out, the fact that RBS are clearly screwing all concerned for every last buck as one man and his newsprint dog re-negotiate their debt facilities…
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44792&c=1
… perhaps means that we have every reason to be grateful to the Masters Of The Universe; that we will be the principal beneficiaries of such ‘cash machines’ as they make one or two newspaper book-keepers weep.
That, actually, we have the banks to thank for ensuring that such hefty obligations – with our money – don’t actually sink without trace.
But for me, there is a slightly more troubling story here; for someone, somewhere, has yet to be brought to account.
As if, of course, they ever will…
And nor am I about to work the numbers; do the math.
That is way beyond my ken.
But someone, somewhere, deep with the bowels of RBS was clearly sanctioning such activity; oiling the stable door as the horse bolted… time and time again.
As one media outfit after another came a-knocking on their door; looking for yet more oil to grease the wheels of purchase and expansion.
In 2008.
Now, clearly who was to know that one half of this ‘Perfect Storm’ lay just around the corner? That the whole, global banking community was about to implode around something called the ’sub-prime market’?
How can anyone blame RBS for that?
OK. We’ll put that to one side; give the ‘Masters Of The Universe’ the benefit of the doubt; that they couldn’t see that one coming. Even if it was largely of their own-making.
After all, none are so blind as those that don’t want to see it.
But being blind to the structural half of this ‘Perfect Storm’?
What evidence did anyone possess in 2008 to suggest that The Scotsman, The Nursing Times, The Eastern Daily Press and the Philly Inquirer was about to crack this Internet revenue nut?
Was everyone that convinced that anyone under the age of 30 really had it in their genes to still be reading a print-based product in 2012, let alone 2008?
Did no-one suggest that come 2012 the vast majority of news and information might be consumed via what was in the jeans of said future customer; that an ‘application’ would be the point of entry for an ever-growing number of media consumers?
Rightly or wrongly, I have considerable sympathy for the newspaper groups caught in the eye of this perfect storm. I think they were fighting forces beyond first their comprehension and then their strength. Nothing works. The fact that everything might is of scant consolation.
I have no sympathy whatsoever for the media acquisition clowns at RBS and Co who were rubber-stamping their own bonuses with little or no evidence of ever applying a brake on their clients’ ambitions.
Where is anyone saying: ‘Why?’ Or: ‘You sure?’
Nah, when there’s a big, fat bonus to be had lets grease that stable door and watch the horse bolt…
And still it continues. If RBS/us are still up to their/our necks in the wonderful world of Brian P Tierney, who is representing our best interests in the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals?
For as AP reported, that saga is far from over; we – the creditors – are still trying to wrestle ownership of a daily newspaper in Philadelphia back into the hands of the UK tax-payer…
Creditors are trying to take control of the company that owns The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News and have hired former Publisher Bob Hall as an adviser. This hard-fought Chapter 11 case began in February. The newspaper company proposes to shed most of its $400 million in debt by repurchasing the company through a bankruptcy auction for about 22 cents on the dollar.
The proposal calls for keeping Brian Tierney as publisher. Now the case turns on whether senior lenders can use the $300 million they’re owed to make a competing bid. The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals is considering the issue.
Someone, somewhere has a big case to answer…