A Springfield media mogul and losing bidder for the Boston Globe says he won't buy the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, but John J. Gormally Jr. predicts there will be plenty of local players interested, including media chain GateHouse Media.
"If I were to buy a newspaper, it would be my local newspaper," said Gormally, owner of two Springfield television stations and BusinessWest Magazine, who bid on the New England Media Group in competition with John Henry.
Henry, who bought the Boston Globe and the Telegram and their websites a month ago for $70 million, told his Worcester staffers yesterday he was putting their paper on the block.
"My preference is to a local owner," Henry told the staff, according to the Telegram & Gazette.
Gormally said, "Strategically, GateHouse is probably the leading candidate." GateHouse Media, owns more than 300 daily and weekly newspapers, including the Patriot Ledger and the Brockton Enterprise, and recently acquired the Dow Jones Media Group, which includes the Cape Cod Times and the New Bedford Standard Times.
The Fletcher family, long-rooted in Worcester, could be good candidates to buy the paper, Gormally said. Another possible bidder could be Ralph D. Crowley Jr., CEO of Polar Beverages, who tried to buy the paper in 2009. City Manager Michael O'Brien has said the local business community might be interested in mounting a bid.
The fate of the newspaper — in a time when many are struggling and staffs are being cut — won't be clear until potential bidders express interest, industry insiders and analysts said.
"I wouldn't say that's necessarily a bad thing for the Telegram & Gazette," said Tom Fiedler, dean of the College of Communications at Boston University. "Depending obviously on whether responsible local ownership steps forward."
John Hill, president of the Rhode Island Newspaper Guild — which includes staff at the Telegram & Gazette, said, "We'll see who he sells it to. Then we'll know if it's a good or a bad thing."
Analysts and industry insiders said local bidders most likely to draw Henry's eye would be those that see the paper as a civic investment rather than a financial venture.
"If he can find a good local buyer who for a relatively small amount of money could take on a good civic responsibility, that's a good thing," said Joshua Benton, director of the Neiman Journalism Lab at Harvard University.
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