Philly's Inky & Daily News bankrupt

Well, I can't say I'm surprised.

Philadelphia Media Holdings, L.L.C., the company created by Brian Tierney (left) a few years ago that purchased both The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

It's another sad chapter in a long list of them for the nation's daily newspapers, and it's pretty sad to see. It's also sad to see that the once great Inky, as it is sometimes known, continues its downward slide.

Even though I personally dislike him greatly for being the partisan GOP hack that he is, I was pulling for Tierney and Co. to turn around Philly's newspapers. I feel his failure to do so is mostly a sign of the times - the newspaper itself is turning into a relic of yesteryear - something that Baby Boomers and grandfathers read. Personally, I no longer buy them, but I do visit my favorite paper's Websites on a daily basis: the Inquirer's, as well as the LA Times, the Washington Post and of course The New York Times. I don't think that any but the most successful papers have figured out how to make money off of their Websites, yet, but I think it will happen.

But, I do fault Tierney for a few decisions he's made. When the announcement was made that he would be operating the city's newspapers, Tierney pledged that he would not meddle with the editorial content of the papers. I don't think that even his biggest cheerleaders, if they were being completely honest, believed that one. And it didn't take the skeptics long to be proven right.

I couldn't help but laugh when Tierney hired former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who lost his reelection bid in 2006 to Sen. Bob Casey, to be a columnist for the Inquirer's editorial page. Hmm, that was a smart move - it didn't take a genius to figure out that one of the country's most Democratic cities wasn't exactly crying out to hear from one of the most polarizing Republicans in recent memory. Maybe Tierney can, ahem, inquire if Sarah Palin is available to write about her pathetic qualifications for being vice president or president? Yea, I'm sure Philly would love that.

A more damning incident about Tierney's stewardship occurred prior to the '08 election, when the editorial board voted to endorse Barack Obama for president. An editorial meeting about the endorsement reportedly became quite heated when Tierney forcefully pushed for the endorsement of Sen. John McCain. So much for not interfering with editorial content.

And so much for a comeback for Philly's daily newspapers.

Here's hoping that Philly's newspapers survive this latest sad chapter in their respective histories. My prediction is that the Inquirer will survive, but the Daily News will not. It's been rumored for years that the Daily News will be shuttered, and I think within the next year or two, we'll sadly see that happen.

Here's why Michael Nutter is getting my vote in today's Philadelphia Mayoral Primary

Up until a few days ago, I was undecided on who was going to get my vote in today's Democratic Mayoral Primary. However, Tom Knox made my decision pretty easy when I started receiving anti-Michael Nutter propaganda in the mail a few weeks ago. Here's just a sample of what I received. Above is the front cover, and below is the back cover.

Inside was all sorts of smear and garbage about Nutter. I was on the fence, until I got this stuff in the mail.

We'll see who prevails - so far, Philly.com's Website is reporting that turnout is very low.

The great thing about tonight's election coverage is that I won't have to see Brian Tierney on TV, telling us what he thinks about the election, since he is now CEO of the company that owns the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

PDN takes the lowest road

Philadelphia's murder rate and gun violence both continue to spiral out of control, yet The Philadelphia Daily News ran this cover this morning (well, by now, yesterday morning) - of Virginia Tech mass murderer Cho Seung-Hui. And people wonder why the death of newspapers has been a trend that has been marching steadily onward for decades.

I should be clear - I'm anything but a prude when it comes to media coverage, and I'm not calling for censorship. But what I am calling for is a bit of decency on the part of our mass media. People are fed up with being spoon fed this garbage, all for a few ratings points or to sell a few newspapers. We are supposed to be a civilized society; it's bad enough these events happen, but when they do, it would be nice if the mass media let the bodies go cold before swooping in for a ratings grab.

For instance, how many newspaper covers did we see with the following picture on the morning of September 12, 2001?

Damn few, if any. Why should this tragedy be any different?

[Quick aside - this world-famous picture, dubbed The Falling Man, was taken by AP photographer Richard Drew just as this man jumped out of one of the burning twin towers on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The man chose a quick, instant death instead of one from smoke and flames.]

NBC and The Philadelphia Daily News chose dollars over decency.

Was the Daily News doing its due diligence, or pandering to sell papers? It's certainly a question worth asking. I think a newspaper cover like this shames the dead people who died at Virginia Tech, and is voyeuristic, exploitative and repulsive.

You be the judge.

Tierney now heads the Inky. Great.

Brian Tierney, left, new chief executive of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News, and publisher Joe Natoli announce the completed purchase of the Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Philly.com and related media properties last Thursday.

Pardon me if I'm not jumping up and down with enthusiasm. I have a personal dislike for Tierney, a conservative with a strong partisan streak. I recall with laughter when Tierney headed the mayoral campaign of Sam Katz vs. John F. Street for Philadelphia mayor. It was clear pretty early on in the evening that Katz was going down to defeat, but Tierney and Katz waited to concede until after the 11 p.m. newscasts were over. Petty and amateur, guys. He was asked why they waited, and he said into news cameras, with a guilty look on his face, that his cell phone hadn't rang all night. Uh huh. Hey, even Gore was a good sport in the end after he had an election stolen from him.

I also stopped watching the Comcast election updates, because every election they would have Tierney on, giving us his conservative verbal diarrhea. I always wondered aloud what qualified him to be on there? Answer - his money and prominence in the city. Big deal. Every bit as stupid as having Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell on Post-Game Live. How is Rendell qualified to give us analysis on football games? And what's more, who cares what he thinks? I wonder if I can be on Post-Game Live? Who's next? (And I love Rendell, by the way, but I call it as I see it.) Who the hell is making programming decisions at Comcast?

There are two good things about Tierney being CEO of the Inky and Daily News. I probably won't have to watch him on the Comcast election shows any longer, because as a journalist he's not supposed to reveal his views or talk in a politically biased way (but his conservative politics are the worst kept secret in the city).

The second good thing? To be fair, it's good having a local company owning both papers. He's got a lot of work ahead, including impending labor strife, but if he makes it throught that, he could do some good for the paper. I do wonder if the Inky will become another Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, or Pittsburgh Post Gazette (Read: Conservative Rag). He claims he won't interfere with editorial content, but I'll believe it when I see it. Let's revisit this in a year.