- Swift Communications
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Swift Communications Inc. is an American digital marketing and newspaper publishing chain based in Carson City, Nevada. Swift's primary markets are resort town tabloid newspapers and websites. Swift Communications has been noted for "being outside of the mainstream" and "drawing national attention inside the industry"[1] for disabling commenting and implementing paywalls on most of it's online newspaper's websites. [2][3]
Contents
History
Swift Newspapers was founded by Philip Swift in 1975. Swift, a former executive at the Scripps League of Newspapers, exchanged his equity interests in the company for ownership of two daily newspapers. After dozens of acquisitions and mergers over the years, Swift amassed a large number of print publications and in 1991 the company began concentrating on the resort sector by launching Tahoe.com and Reno.com. In 2006, the company changed their name to Swift Communications. [4] Swift also prints advertorials, catalogs, realtor magazines and phone book advertising.[5]
Criticism
Free Speech issues
In November, 2009 Bob Berwyn, a journalist for the Summit Daily News owned by Swift Communications was fired for a column he wrote which upset an affluent advertiser. This action was widely derided in the Colorado media.[6][7]
"It's unfortunate but, especially in this economy, some advertisers feel like they can flex their muscles when there's commentary that they don't like," says Ed Otte of the Colorado Press Association. "Newspapers need to withstand these kinds of threats."[8]In May, 2011 all existing comments and discussions on news articles were permanently deleted by all online newspapers owned by Swift Communications. The ability for readers to leave comments about articles was indefinitely removed, due to the inability of their content management software to restrict comments they did not approve of. [9][10][11]
Anthony Collebrusco from the Digital News Test Kitchen at CU-Boulder's School of Journalism & Mass Communication which is involved in researching a viable means of limiting the pseudonymity and unconditional free speech of commenters on Swift's websites paraphrased Swift's policy as:
"Executives at Swift concluded that resources should not be invested in comments — and therefore there is no rush to reinstate user comments — unless they can be made to generate revenue."[2]In Fall of 2011, the Aspen Times re-enabled onymous commenting for users with an active Facebook account.[1]
Accusations of monopoly
Swift Communications has been accused of stifling competition and setting artificially inflated ad rates by consolidating and closing small-town newspapers.[12] Steve Lipsher, former editor of the Summit Daily News said in 2008 that "If you're an advertiser in places like Summit County, they're the only game in town" [13] and in 2009, Swift-owned newspapers had 90% market share in Eagle County.[14] Swift has also been criticized for over-charging for obituary listings.[15]
Media properties
- Swift Marketing Partners in Reno, Nevada
- Swift Digital in Reno, Nevada
- Sierra Nevada Media Group in Carson City, Nevada
- Colorado Mountain News Media in Gypsum, Colorado
- Northern Colorado Communications Group in Greeley, Colorado
- News-Review Publishing Company in Roseburg, Oregon
- Nevada County Publishing Company in Grass Valley, California
- Clear Sky Ventures in Reno, Nevada
Publications
California
- Sierra Sun
- Tahoe.com
- Tahoe Daily Tribune
- Tahoe World
- Union
Colorado
- Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado
- Citizen Telegram in Rifle, Colorado
- Eagle Valley Enterprise in Eagle, Colorado
- Fence Post in Greeley, Colorado
- Glenwood Springs Post Independent in Glenwood Springs, Colorado
- Grand Junction Free Press in Grand Junction, Colorado
- Greeley Tribune in Greeley, Colorado
- High Country House & Home
- Sky-Hi Daily News in Granby, Colorado
- Snowmass Sun in Snowmass Village, Colorado
- Summit Daily News in Frisco, Colorado
- Vail Daily in Vail, Colorado
- Windsor Now in Windsor, Colorado
Nebraska
- Nebraska Fence Post
Nevada
- Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard
- Reno.com
- Nevada Appeal
- Northern Nevada Business Weekly
- North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
- Record-Courier
Oregon
- Oregon Real Estate Guide
- The News-Review
South Dakota
- Farmer & Rancher Exchange
- Tri-State Livestock News
Newspaper closures & cutbacks
In late 2008, Colorado Mountain News Media, a subsidiary of Swift, laid off 20% of their staff[16] and closed down their following Colorado newspapers:[17] [18][19][20][14]
- Summit County Journal in Frisco, Colorado (defunct)
- Leadville Chronicle in Leadville, Colorado (defunct)
- Northern Colorado Tribune (defunct)
- La Tribuna in Greeley, Colorado (defunct) was named "best weekly in the country" in 2006[21] but was merged with the now defunct Greeley Now newspaper for not being "economically viable" in early 2008.[22]
- Windsor Tribune in Windsor, Colorado (defunct)
- Vail Trail in Vail, Colorado (defunct)
- Valley Journal in Carbondale, Colorado (defunct)
- Fort Collins Now (formerly Fort Collins Weekly) in Fort Collins, Colorado (defunct)
- Middle Park Times in Kremmling, Colorado (defunct)
See also
References
- ^ a b "Aspen Times online comments return". Aspen Times. 2011-10-21. http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20111021/NEWS/111029971&mode=comments. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
- ^ a b Collebrusco, Anthony. "‘No comment’: Swift newspaper websites keeping user comments turned off". Digital News Test Kitchen. http://testkitchen.colorado.edu/2011/09/no-comment-swift-newspaper-websites-keeping-user-comments-turned-off/. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
- ^ Tomasic, John (2008-09-21). "Greeley Tribune, other Swift papers, erecting paywalls". Colorado Independent. http://coloradoindependent.com/100095/greeley-tribune-other-swift-papers-erecting-paywalls. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
- ^ "Who Owns the News Media". The state of the News Media. http://stateofthemedia.org/media-ownership/company-profile/?mediaid=111&id=149. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
- ^ "Swift Communication Inc. Snapshot". Bloomberg Businessweek. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1051111. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
- ^ Carr, David (2009-12-15). "Mountain Media Takes Nasty Spill After Confrontation with Vail Resorts". Media Decoder - New York Times. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/mountain-media-takes-nasty-spill-after-confrontation-with-vail-resorts/. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ Hooper, Troy (2009-12-12). "Reporter: I was fired for taking on the ski industry". Aspen Daily News. http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/138109. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ Greene, Susan (2009-12-10). "Advertising flap snowballs for Vail Resorts". Denver Post. http://www.denverpost.com/greene/ci_13964833. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ Bangert, Randy (2011-04-30). "Web comments for The Tribune take a holiday". Greeley Tribune. http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110430/OPINION/704309974. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ Collebrusco, Anthony. "Civil comments for news websites". Digital News Test Kitchen. http://testkitchen.colorado.edu/projects/current-projects/civil-comments-for-news-websites/. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ Outing, Steve. "#$^&%#@) it! … Keep it civil, commenters!". Digital News Test Kitchen. http://testkitchen.colorado.edu/2011/06/keep-it-civil-commenters/. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ Williams, David O. (2008-06-08). "Mountain McPapers slurp up competition". Colorado Independent. http://coloradoindependent.com/4271/mountain-mcpapers-slurp-up-competition. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
- ^ Roberts, Michael (2008-05-22). "Ed Stein Moves Out of “Denver Square”". Denver Westword News: p. 2 accessdate=2011-09-22. http://www.westword.com/2008-05-22/news/ed-stein-moves-out-of-denver-square/2/.
- ^ a b Williams, David O. (2009-02-28). "Community papers struggling: Vail Daily cuts staff to 2002 levels". Colorado Independent. http://coloradoindependent.com/22991/community-papers-struggling-vail-daily-cuts-staff-to-2002-levels. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
- ^ Courant, James (2010-06-05). "Your Not So “Local Newspaper”". Greeley Gazette. http://www.greeleygazette.com/press/?p=3244. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
- ^ Webb, Dennis (2011-12-30). "Owner cutting staff at several newspapers, including Free Press". newspaperlayoffs.com. http://newspaperlayoffs.com/2009/01/grand-junction-free-press-4/. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
- ^ "Colorado Mountain News Media Regional Marketing Solutions". www.swiftcom.com. http://www.swiftcom.com/about-us/properties/colorado-mountain-news-media/. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
- ^ "Colorado Newspapers by City". www.mondotimes.com. http://www.mondotimes.com/newspapers/usa/colorado.html. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
- ^ "Owner cutting staff at several newspapers including Free Press". Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. 2008-12-31. http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/owner-cutting-staff-at-several-newspapers-including-free-press. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
- ^ "Western Slope newspapers cut staff". Denver Business Journal. 2008-12-31. http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/12/29/daily17.html. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
- ^ "La Tribuna named best weekly in the country". Greeley Tribune. 2006-10-15. http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20061015/NEWS/110150095. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
- ^ "Spanish paper La Tribuna to merge with Greeley Now". Greeley Tribune. 2008-01-29. http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20080129/business/26872081. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
External links
- Swift Communications (official website)
- Colorado Mountain News Media
- Northern Colorado Communications Group
Colorado The Aspen Times · The Citizen Telegram · Eagle Valley Enterprise · Glenwood Springs Post Independent · Greeley Tribune · NOCOpages.com · Sky-Hi News · Snowmass Sun · Summit Daily News · Vail Daily ·Nebraska The Fence PostNevada Lahontan Valley News · Nevada Appeal · North Lake Tahoe Bonanza · Northern Nevada Business Weekly · Reno.com · The Record-CourierOregon The News-Review · Oregon Real Estate GuidesSouth Dakota Farmer & Rancher Exchange · Tri-State Livestock NewsItalics indicate a daily newspaper.Categories:- Newspaper companies of the United States
- Companies based in Reno, Nevada
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