The sale to Chatham Asset Management does not bode well for its future
Sunday was a devastating day for Sacramento.
After 163 years of family ownership, the McClatchy Co., which publishes The Sacramento Bee and 29 other newspapers across the country, announced that Chatham Asset Management—a hedge fund that owns 80% of the company that publishes the National Enquirer—had made the winning bid to take over the bankrupt company.
For the last 31 years until the COVID-19 pandemic suspended print publication, Sacramento News & Review has been producing a weekly newspaper as an alternative to our city’s most powerful news source, the Bee. In Chico and Reno we also publish alternative weeklies, but in those cities we compete with newspapers owned by Media News and Gannett, two newspaper chains that may have been great at making money but not so good at providing solid local journalism.
McClatchy and The Sacramento Bee were different, remarkably different. The Bee was and is a good newspaper. Sure, we found fault with it at times, but it was a family disagreement.
Speaking as the owner of the News & Review, I have admiration for so many former Bee reporters and editors: Rick Rodriguez, Marjie Lundstrom, Dale Maharidge, R.E. Graswich, Tim Grieve, Stephen Magagnini, Andy Furillo and Fahizah Alim. Great work is currently being produced by Cathie Anderson, Tony Bizjak, Marcos Breton, Dale Kasler, Ryan Lillis, Jack Ohman, Sam Stanton and others. I would be happy to publish the work of such skilled journalists. Hell, I would be honored to do it.
Like opposing sports teams, the Bee and SN&R competed but loved the same game. It should be noted that during The Bee’s glory years, it was like the New York Yankees while we were fielding our team with the revenue of a minor league team in a small town. Nevertheless, we were delighted to play ball.
It breaks my heart that the new owner of the McClatchy chain is Chatham Asset Management. This is the hedge fund that owns most of American Media, the publisher of National Enquirer—yes, the same tabloid that paid a former Playboy model for her story about an alleged affair with Donald Trump, with the purpose of preventing it from ever being published, in order to help him win the presidency.
McClatchy’s CEO and President Craig Forman is trying to portray this bankruptcy proceeding as business as usual during this difficult time, saying in a press release: “We’re pleased that Chatham and the supportive secured first-lien creditors believe in our business and our mission and are helping to achieve these goals. Local journalism has never been more vital and we remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering on our mission and continuing to serve our communities.”
I swear, if Forman said it was going to be a sunny day, I would start looking for my umbrella. No, if Chatham’s leaders understood McClatchy’s mission, the day after they took over American Media, they would have immediately fired National Enquirer publisher and head scoundrel David Pecker. They would have issued an apology for the damage that they have done to our republic and be praying that there is not an afterlife overseen by a righteous judgmental Supreme Being. If Chatham founder Anthony Melchiorre shared McClatchy’s mission, he would not be having dinner with Donald Trump and David Pecker at the White House.
This is not business as usual. Chatham does not care about The Bee’s mission. Hopefully, Chatham will agree to sell McClatchy’s 30 papers to local buyers who actually do care about mission and do not make a mockery of journalism.
It is a sad day for Sacramento and McClatchy’s other 29 cities now that Chatham is the new owner of their proud and distinguished newspaper chain.
If you heard a strange sound on Sunday when the Chatham announcement was made, it was much admired editor and publisher C.K. McClatchy rolling over in his grave.
Jeff vonKaenel is the president, CEO and majority owner of the News & Review newspapers in Sacramento, Chico and Reno.
The newspaper might have done better to be less biased in its reporting. Even the NYT is just a far left propaganda machine. Remember not reporting something is just as bad as reporting only one opinion.
Good riddance.
Exactly when was it you lost your journalistic integrity? It might be hard to remember when you had any at all!
I stopped my subscription 15 year ago, as a reference point.
Be forewarned winning bidder: “Be Honest! Even if it hurts the masses precious feelings, and that the facts of the matter hold more power than spin.”
Jeff vonKaenel can’t even take a break from being a crybaby snowflake fake news peddler long enough to write a farewell. Your crappy SN$R will meet the same fate soon. See, left bent fake news rags like yours have zero appeal to people who actually read. Mouth-breather liberals can’t be bothered, so your weak publications die by the wayside. Try REPORTING THE NEWS instead of whining about an election that was won FOUR YEARS AGO and maybe you will be taken seriously. Until then have fun lining bird cages.
@King I couldn’t agree more! I cancelled the Bee year’s agree for that exact reason.
It is amazing that Jeff is so tone deaf and so lost in his progressive ideology that he doesn’t even realize he killed the paper and journalism!
People are sick of opinion past off as news. Day in and day out fake news.
Good riddance! I’m sure you will continue to destroy journalism’s credibility further with your propaganda.
I stopped my subscription to the Sacramento Bee several years ago. The Bee is unbelievably biased. I don’t want to read some so called journalist’s opinion, I just want honest facts reported.
This is Great. Hopefully it will bread unbiased REAL NEWS!
It’s not a bad thing. Most news is swayed by big money, racist opinions, and fear mongering, and very little truth or facts.
I like the Bee 🐝 & wish everyone who works there well- stop the name calling blame games. Let’s get on with creating & maintaining a newspaper that serves our community. I’d be glad to subscribe to keeping our Bee’s healthy- good luck, hang in there, keep the faith.😳
I dropped my subscription after many years when the op/ed page started to be on front page! Too biased for me! Very disgusting!
I agree with these comments.The Bee was biased in its reporting.I stopped my subscription years ago.
It’s sad and so many comments are from people happy with someone else’s loss. The type of people that would cheer at an execution, or when someone they don’t like dies. Please be glad for success and stop rejoicing over loss and failures of others if you want less hatred and meaness in the world and in your hearts. Please.
I am proud to be from the Sacramento Area after reading the comments on the “Snowflake Bee” being sold. What a biased liberal rag. My bird even refused it in her cage bottom.
Why they never had anything good about Republicans. They pushed Brown and Newsom down our throats. Bye Bye
To all of you complainers, there is nothing good to say about the “right” or republicans! Get over it. It will be easier fot you after November. Learn how to swim or go with the flow. BLUE TSUNAMI 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊
Blue Tsunami haha ridiculous more like a Blue puddle in the toilet waiting to be flushed, so many brainwashed liberals thanks to rags like the Sac Bee..good riddance!
Education always in a complete package how will you get some.
Hopefully now they will actual print news and not biased opinions and fake news.
Wow, this seems like a hypocritical author. I usually don’t comment but I hope the new people at Sacramento Bee are NOT like the writer of this post.
The Bee is a propaganda rag for the progressive left. I stopped it about ten years ago. I read a paper daily for 50 years. I greatly missed a daily paper but not once the Bee. They did this to themselves. They can blame the internet or whatever for their demise, but they put out a terrible product year after year.
Good riddance. The Bee was a trash “news” paper.
I’m sure the owner of the National Enquirer will provide news based on fact and honesty. LMAO!!
Finally Sacramento will get some real news.. Sac N&R acts like they are real news.. The last 10 pages is all weed ads.. Lets be real buddy the Sacramento Bee and SN&R are some of the most Bias Liberal media money can buy.. I am not saying go praise Trump but come on at least report facts.. By making it an opinion piece you guys got away with a ton of lies.. News like the Sacramento Bee is the reason why Trump won.. People are tired of Liberal Bully’s forcing there BS on the rest of the world
To the writer (?term used loosely) of this article, “Your closing rant regarding the purchasers of the “Sack Bee” is a prime example of why they are BANKRUPT and a prime example of how MORALLY bankrupt and out of touch (insane) the progressive left is. You Sir are the threat to our Republic. Once freedom is lost it is rarely recovered. Good Riddance.
Good riddance! The Sac Bee was never one to go to for the facts or an unbiased story. All the police bashing they’ve done over the years is sickening. Karma strikes and I for one am very pleased!!!
Ah, yes, bashing the police is bad, cuz the police bashing people should never be denounced. Lovely.
A day for rejoicing and hope for a bright future!
Another one bites the dust. Next the NYT. I miss the Sacramento Union.
The Bee has been trash for years. The reporters are so biased it is ridiculous. Buh bye!!
Its not journalism,the sac bee is opinion,and their editorials are hateful, if I don’t think like them then I’m wrong. When I did subscribe I would go days with no delivery and no one to call to talk to,wrote letters,ask for my money back,no response.I wrote to BBB Sacramento and I received a very rude call in days.their content is not journalism,its left thinking opinions,and degrading,pointed opinions. They will not be missed
With so many things going in our world and it seems to all negative, this saddens my heart even more.
Here is a funny about the Bee: Few years ago there was a Bee article about something or other. A reader sent in a comment about the article. The reader mentioned “Homo sapiens, abstract thinker, tool maker.” A person or machine focused on “homo” and rejected the reply. HM
I am a life long liberal, and the Bee makes me sick. Lunacy is not liberalism.
Hey Sac Bee…before pointing your finger, look in the mirror. Your biased and overly opinionated newspaper is just as bad! Journalism is a circus act now.
The bee is ridiculously left. It’s clear why it went bankrupt.
Hopefully we may now will get real news and not just poor opinions.
A very, very biassed publication. I dropped it 15 years ago for that reason. Tried to keep it for the sports and the ads, but why deal with the grief….
Agreed!! 100%! I remember The Bee of 20 years ago, when good journalism meant REPORTING the news without bias. When integrity in the craft was not a choice, but a a foregone conclusion, in the very least, a requirement. I admit, I am a relic, a product of the Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee, Bill Moyers reporting. How I miss those days! Call me old fashioned, but when I read or watch the news, I want the facts, if I wanted a reporter’s opinion I’d read the editorial page.
Thanks for asking he piece, Jeff. The Sacramento Bee was alwas a great paper on state news. The Trumpian choir above can keep believing that Donald and Tucker and Rupert aren’t sticking a funnel down their throats to pour in bile and lies. Now they can get their “real news” from the tinfoil hat crowd at National Enquirer.
A) Self edit your own comments.
B) You make no substantial claims that the Bee is NOT a Left Biased Rag. You are merely railing against others substantial, correlative and empirical observations about the topic of the Sac Bee.
C) Enjoy 2020! Sounds like it’s your kinda year Buddy!
I notice almost all of the comments are calling the Bee leftist garbage. I don’t know one way or the other but it does make me ask myself where those same people do actually get their news from. I think I have a pretty good idea and if I’m correct then it just adds to the absurdity that now manifests itself into every day life in America. So, any responses as the where you all do get your news from?
bbc.com
Facebook is more neutral than the Bee and cycle faster, it’s often live. 😉
The Sac Bee (as well as the author of this article) really are liberally biased, leftist garbage. The most trustworthy newspaper to me is the Wall Street Journal.
I havent lived in Sacramento in 20 years but read the Bee up until then for years. It started going downhill not long before i moved. Thst was the only paper i knew. After moving and reading other papers, i missed the Bee. Not so much the one-sided news, but the rest of the paper, Food section, Scene, Classified, and more Maybe this is a good thing, get back to actual journalism, Chatham cant e THAT bad, can they?
Oh please. Boo hoo. Yeah the Sacramento Bee does such a great job with fair and balanced reporting. Not! What a joke they are today. Their lead story the other day was how there’d be no more mugshots published because that’s too racist. Admitting the Bee had recently banned the word “looting” because it was inherently racist. Huh??? What kind of logic is that? The Bee’s readership is all white hipster liberals anyways. Who eat the propaganda up. My default position with any mainstream outlet is disbelief until proven otherwise now. They are known liars unashamedly pushing an agenda. One which hurts us. How ironic that the national enquirer is more respected now than mainstream outlets. Their stories actually turn out to be more legit than the Bee’s.
Dear Sacramento Bee and all similarly situated imperiled newspapers.
You’ve outlived your usefulness
You are the weakest link.
Sacramento Bee:Be gone.
Enjoy a painful dissolution and well deserved death.
I cancelled my subscription to the SacBee about three years ago. I wanted to read the news, but their opinion section had taken over the entire paper. I just could not find a reason to financially support them anymore.
KARMA!!! After years of false reporting and a lack of integrity, and truthdul journalism, this is justice! Bye Felicia!!!!!!
I couldn’t be more proud of the comment section.
Glad to see The Globalist/Liberal Agenda paper finally come to a stop! Now we can move forward in a positive direction.
I have called that bird cage liner The Hated Bee for 30 years.
I bought it regularly in machines though because it had local Sacramento stories.
Then the machines went away in Susanville. An internet subscription was just another unwanted bill.
Quit my subscription in 2005. Same same slant every day, and lots of “missing” news if it didn’t fit the narrative. Apparently, even the state workers wouldn’t read it anymore.
I gave up on the Bee at least 20 years ago. Like the rest of the media, it only reports news that “fits” while ignoring everything else. It is not surprising that the SNR owner praises it, though, since the SNR is just like the Bee only worse.
Hardly worth reading,Sacramento Union was a better newspaper.
Print media, especially that is marginal or even subpar has no chance. I have a subscription to NY Times which costs me $1 week and for national and international reporting it is quality journalism. I tried the Bee for a year and found it to be completely useless but did give it a try with a GroupOn special, and for $1 a month I still wouldn’t purchase it. If I felt I need a California newspaper there are many better to choose from but California is covered everywhere so really no need.
“It was always biased by reporting things I didn’t want to know, didn’t know I didn’t want to know, disagreed with because of my own thoughts on a topic, wished weren’t true and thus aggravated me, a person who doesn’t realize that reporting that a team lost isn’t biased reporting, nor is stating simple facts and what repercussions of the unveiling of those facts appears to mean isn’t biased or negative. It’s not real news I want, what I want is what I want: agreement. … This is a recording.”
There are many newspapers in this country that are slowly failing. They ignore the fact that the people who actually read newspapers are the same people who they insult daily with their drivel. It has been my guilty pleasure watching once two fold daily papers slowly be reduced to one fold or no fold weeklies. Mr. vonKeanel along with many other progressive publishers obviously thinkthatheir target audiences are as gullible as their staffs.
The only thing worse would have been a sale to Alden (Media News). It’s hard to imagine the anger it takes to comment so negatively on this piece. We need a healthy Bee now more than ever.
One more thing after reading the comments I would swear this town is colored red. I love it. Stop voter fraud.
It IS a dark day indeed for real news. For people (overwhelmingly right wingers) who believe The Enquirer is actual news– they will now get their fake news delivered to their doorstep, sporting the Sac Bee name.
Good Bye Woke Taliban, this is Capitalism at its Finest!!!. The Free Market and Freedom Loving Americans Everywhere will be Rejoicing, privately perhaps, but Rejoicing None the Less!!!.
A liberal rag lamenting the rebirth of another liberal rag. Boo hoo… Don’t you have a riot to not cover downtown?
In the early 1940’s I lived in small towns that had only one paper, one political opinion. Then 33 years in New York. Suddenly, 5 English-language papers of various political views, plus 2 or 3 Spanish-language papers selling their views. Now, in this internet era, we can tune-in on any thought that we wish. Scores of them. What is the problem? HM
Party affiliation be damned! Who cares? The point is that REAL Journalism, the kind that promotes truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability, is on the verge of extinction, and The Bee is a perfect example of its steady descent into the Inferno. The commentary isn’t about hate, or celebration at another’s misfortune; it’s a display of the overwhelming desire of an educated public for news which reports FACTS, not opinion, TRUTH, not propaganda, and does so with INTEGRITY, not agendas.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. LIBERALISM IS A MENTAL DISORDER and “The Bee” was spreading this disorder far and wide. I hope you guys learned to code……. MAGA 2020, 2024, 2028…….
I delivered this paper for 12 yrs, clearly to Young to understand it. Went on to be a subscriber for 20+ years to realize it was mainly fake news. It was more like a pissing contest with reporters publishing their own opinions instead of reporting facts. Try reporting truth, yes your going to hurt the feelings of some but at least your keeping it 💯. And you separate yourselves from all the other media’s out there, reporting what they think people want to read! Wrong the truth will make you rise up and I don’t think it’s ever too late to start, listen to your comments that’s all we want is truth! If I see a change, I’ll subscribe again and I’m sure I speak for many. But it must change, and it starts with the journalist! Good luck
At the fast decline of the Bee over the past 20 years, CK has been rolling around. Now he can rest. RIP to the honorable CK Mcclatchy, a REAL newsman.
Praise Jesus! Take Gavin, Nancy, Diane, Kampala and Brecero with you! The Silent Majority will rise up in November and squash all of you liberal nut jobs. Dan Walters was your only great writer. Your Kings biased sports page was bs at best.
Sacramento is back to being just a Cowtown full of trough sucking liberals.
So! The Bee and their 1000% Left Wing Bias staff finally gets the TRUTH HANDED TO THEM BY TRUE AMERICANS. EVERY reporter, editor WITH ALL THEIR RIOT COVERAGE AND all their ENDLESS cut and pasting of other LEFT WING DRIVE BY MEDIA OUTLETS PROPOGANDA DESERVES TO BE CANNED!!!
Wow. Lots of anger in these comments. Lots of folks apparently disgusted with SN&R. So I have to ask – why are you here? Are you truly concerned that you and perhaps others will become (as a former president might have put it) “liberalified”? By simply reading articles here or in the Bee? Critical thinking skills anyone?
I’ve read the Bee for years, mainly for local reporting, but those kinds of articles have decreased so much over time that I consider the Bee no longer relevant. SN&R still “fills the bill” for me on local reporting and I hope to see it expand.
Good grief, shocked at reading so many negative & hateful comments from so many anti- liberal people. This seems like an underlying civil war- only left or right rather than North or South. Can we have a Union with such diversity?
You should check out Peter Turchin. He pioneered a field called “cliodynamics” which is kind of a way of modeling history in an attempt to find out why states (civilizations) rise and fall. He found a cycle to history with periods of disintegration (for example, the period leading up to the Civil War) and integration (for example the New Deal period). Recently, he applied the model the US and discovered that we are in the middle of a disintegration period that began with the Reagan era, and accelerated in the 90’s. Now, he’s saying historical patterns are lining up to indicate a coming period of instability and violence here in the US, which he expects to peak in the 2020’s (we may be close to it, given current circumstances).
There is a lot more to it than what I can highlight in this comment. But I suggest starting with the piece below:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/angela-nagle-on-peter-turchin-the-russian-historian-predicting-chaos
Curious. Why did people who hate the SN&R bother to read this piece and why do they bother to comment on it?
Very puzzling. Seems as though it must have been shared on a site or blog with a particular ideological lens.
So…many…wing nuts!
I work for the department of alcohol and drug programs. The people there were sincere in their desire to help people with substance use issues. Every year, the bee would publish our salaries for reasons only they knew. I thought that was highly intrusive. But the bee definitely had it in for state workers and as such I had no desire to support them any longer.
It is the height of hypocrisy for Jeff VonKaenel to publicly mourn the demise of the Sac Bee. I lived in Sacramento 26 years and 100% of EVERY comment about the Bee in SN&R was derisive, negative and spiteful. Jeff VonKaenel would frequently engage in spewing
“Bee Bashing” criticisms for as long as he has been SN&R’s publisher.
It is patently absurd for Jeff VonKunaekel to now finally write this hypocritical mournful dirge about the demise of the Bee. For decades he’s been an acrid, venomous
“Bee Basher”, never in the manner of constructive criticism, but more aligned with his egregious jealousy. The Bee in it’s Glory Days won Pulitzer Prizes. How many Pulitzer Prizes has SN&R won? Zero.
I’m quite surprised ANY organization wants to buy the Bee. It went bankrupt and is circling the drain on CPR life support. Rumours were floated Mayor Darrell Steinberg was encouraging his cronies, toadies and enablers to buy the Bee. Is it any worse that Chatham has bought the Bee instead of Darrell Steinbergs Fat Cat buddies who are part of his political machine? Would it have been any better than Chatham, if Jeff Bezos, owner of behemoth Amazon and the New York Times bought the Bee? What investor in their right mind would WANT to buy the Bee? It has brand name recognition, but is bankrupt, with anemic subscriber levels, and exists as a skeletal, wispy, vestigal remnant of what it once was prior to the catastrophic, ill conceived Knight Ridder buyout. I’m stunned the Bee even found a buyer. I predict the Bee’s few remaining assets will be sold off, eventually the paper will fold – then SN&R will be the ONLY newspaper in Sacto, culminating in Jeff VonKaenel gloating, when SN&R is the only game in town.
For three decades Jeff VonKaenel never missed a chance to bad mouth and malign the Bee. He questioned the morals of it’s administrators and bashed the abilities of their staff. Now the last nail is in the Bee’s coffin and suddenly VonKaenel is mournful the Bee was sold to a new owner.
Badly done, Jeff.
Colleen Whalen
Ah, but you miss the point of the mainstream media these days. It’s not about reporting the “news.” It’s about pushing the neoliberal narrative and framing it as “news.” It’s about starving and dismantling the public sphere in favor of the private sphere. That’s not to be confused with the personal sphere like the difference between private property and personal property*. It’s about lifting up the unproductive wealthy while pushing the rest of us down. The MSM may be on the brink of going bankrupt (both morally and economically), but they still serve their purpose and wealthy elites gladly keep them around for this reason even as they continue to lose money.
*Personal property is what regular people own (what little of us who are left to be able to afford to own something) such as homes, cars, and computers (and even that is going away). Private property is what rich people own. Things like “productive” property, real estate, corporations, mines, oil wells, forests for logging, stocks, bonds…in other words, assets.
I remember when the bee would do great things for the community,especially at Christmas time. Great memories. Now they charge you a arm and a arm and leg to bury a loved one. Good riddance.
The McClatchy group does not have a good name in Alaska either. They bought out the Anchorage Times about 35 years ago, sold it to an east coast gal about seven years ago for about 20 million, and she sold it(in bankruptcy) about two years ago to the Binkley family for 1 million dollars. Hope the other McClatchy papers have better luck.
Wonderful to hear! Maybe after this the Bee will start reporting factual news rather than their leftist lies. Jeff VonKunaekel needs to stop being being such a whiny baby, but what more can you expect from a liberal?
Wait, are you suggesting that leftism and liberalism are the same? Because they aren’t.
From wikipedia on liberalism: “Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support free markets, free trade, limited government, individual rights, capitalism…”
Most of the leftists I know support fair markets, fair trade, government that works for the people, a balance of individual rights with the public good, and regulated capitalism. Not the unrestrained, run-a-mok, bow down and kiss the butt cheeks of the wealthy style of capitalism here in the US. My guess is, in following from the Wikipedia quote, your understanding of “liberal” principles is flawed.
PS – Most leftists I know are also glad to see the Bee go as most of us disliked them, and their neoliberal BS, intensely.
Oh, and one other thing while I’m thinking about it:
In Europe, most people there consider “liberals” to be center-right. Which probably makes you, as John Oliver might say, “Far Right through Belgium.”
It’s 2021 Sept 6th and we’re still celebrating The Sacramento Bee is GONE!!!
I had no idea that McClatchy went broke, I was raised in Sacramento but moved away 22 years ago. I’m blown away by all the hateful comments, one would think that a community would be saddened that their last local newspaper had been sold to an out of state conglomerate. Not Sacramento though, happier than clams despite the fact that the free press is one of the major part of the checks and balance that keeps democracy going. This is truly bad news not just for Sacramento, but for democracy as well. Again, I am shocked by all the hateful comments, makes me glad I left the place, and I vow never, ever to return.