Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Belo suspends dividend

The Nightly Build...

Who's Got the Story? Not TDMN

The headline in Dallas Business Journal reads, "Belo suspends dividend, stock hits low." No story about this on The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, its editorials, Jacquielynn Floyd's column (she's still talking about pit bulls), or any of its countless blogs, including its business or TV blogs (the TV blog has wall-to-wall coverge of American Idol, however.) I didn't see mention on other Dallas area blogs, either. Not even Uncle Barky saw fit to cover Belo Corp.'s financial tailspin, which might tell us just how over Belo he is.

I know Belo Corp. (the television properties) is not the same company (anymore) as A.H. Belo Corporation (the newspaper properties), but today's news is just one more sign of trouble in the local media business. The lack of coverage in the newspaper is symptomatic of why The Dallas Morning News is doomed. Its best hope of survival is to become the best d*mn local newspaper Dallas can offer. For that, it ought to be all over local news like the Belo Corp. difficulties and what those might portend for the future of media in Dallas.

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