Should the LDS Church get out of the Newspaper Business?
By Mark E. Towner, Political Spyglass
A recent column in the Salt Lake Tribune, accusing the Leadership of the LDS Church being pro Republican, and basically liars because they are allowing Vice President Cheney to speak at BYU got me incensed.
The reason the Tribune can get away with this kind of slander is because of the contract with NAC. Newspaper Agency Corporation is the group that sells ads and prints each respective daily newspaper. This is the same group that when I was the business development director for Utah Policy Daily, and we wanted to advertise on the Deseret News Website once they learned that UPD was LaVarr Webb’s company, killed the deal, even though we had agreements in place.
What the LDS Church should do is shut down the Deseret Morning News Paper, eliminating the contract with NAC and then the Tribune would have to go it alone. Major advertisers could pull ads if the Tribune’s reporters get out of hand without hurting a Church owned business. Which begs the question, should the LDS church own a newspaper in the first place?
I think the LDS church should create a new company called Deseret News, which in partnership with KSL TV and Radio create 24 Hour Online news channel and utilize the new web newspaper publication technology. The reporters for both organizations could get their reports up real time, delivered to cell phones and email and include Video. KSL could sell the ads and with the cost savings of not having to actually print a newspaper, just think what could be done.
The Baby boomers are the last of the Newspaper readers, the new generation never looks at a paper, and they always read the internet for their news. Of course this can’t happen overnight, but if started now, by 2010 the Deseret News Channel and web publication could be fully functional. This would be another Utah first…..
