WILL THE BALTIMORE SUN ELIMINATE THE BUSINESS SECTION? Business sections of local newspapers across the country are being dropped. The Winston-Salem Journal and The Akron Beacon Journal have both eliminated their business sections in the last couple of months.

Friday’s Baltimore Sun business section had 2 bylines and no advertisers. There was a half-page house ad for the Bee Movie which read:"Honey Just Got Funny".

Assuming that the Tribune sale gets through the FCC déjà vu fight over media ownership and is granted a temporary waiver to lift the "cross ownership" ban, the next issue will be managing the 8X+ EBITDA debt burden piled on top by Sam “the Gravedigger” Zell. A no-revenue section gobbling up newsprint seems destined for the morgue.

Prior to Zell’s extreme ESOP play, the business sections have faced the usual challenges – stock tables made irrelevant by online, 15 minute-delayed stock quotes, Craigslist's decimation of newspaper classifieds, changing news consumption habit, etc.

Some could argue that the death of the business section occurred in October 2005 when Bill Atkinson left the 4th estate for the web of Weber Shandwick. Atkinson’s was a trusted and analytical byline replaced by Bloomberg, AP and wire copy.

In most markets, the business journals will assume the monopoly mantle.But crabtown has nothing to worry about even if Sam nukes the business section. There is still The Daily Record, The Baltimore Business Journal, The Examiner, Smart CEO and citybizlist. Baltimore remains the most competitive local business news market outside of Manhattan.

Labels: Baltimore, local business news

  12:07 PM •