Gannett Announces Split Between Print And Broadcast Divisions

By Kaitlin Stein
Published: Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - 4:25pm

Tuesday, Media company Gannett announced a split between their print and broadcast divisions creating two companies. They follow many other media giants like Tribune Company and Time Warner.

As digital media continues to grow and newspapers continue to decline, more companies have split the two mediums. Tim McGuire from Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism explained the long foreseen trend.

"They’re doing it because investors and stockholders, they hate newspapers as an investment," McGuire said. "So, several companies recently have split the newspaper operations from the TV and Digital operations to maximize investor confidence in the TV and Broadcast operations."

The Arizona Republic and Channel 12 in Phoenix are both operated by Gannett. The two share a building and it is unknown how the split will affect them. McGuire explained that the synergy across mediums was seen as a way to save newspapers. But, while newspaper revenue decline has slowed, they do not generate the profit that digital and broadcast media do.

"The fiduciary responsibility of a business like Gannett is to maximize its share price," McGuire said.

Tuesday morning, after Gannett announced the split, company shares rose 6.35 percent on premarket trading.