An alert FrontBurnervian points us to this story from Time: “The 10 Major Newspapers That Will Either Fold or Go Digital Next.” No. 9 on the list is the Star-Telegram, which Time apparently thinks still has the words “Fort Worth” (but not a hyphen) in its moniker.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram is another one of the big dailies that competes with a larger paper in a neighboring market — Dallas. The parent of The Dallas Morning News, Belo, is arguably a stronger company that the Star Telegram‘s parent, McClatchy. The Morning News has a circulation of about 350,000 and the Star Telegram has just over 200,000. The Star Telegram will have to shut down or become an edition of its rival. Putting them together would save tens of millions of dollars a year.
There are a couple of things that strike me about that. First, the parent company of the DMN is AH Belo, not Belo. Second, AH Belo isn’t in a position to acquire a decent Metro columnist, much less another newspaper. Third, people in Fort Worth won’t stand for an edition of the DMN. Anyone who has spent time in Fort Worth (I’m looking at you, Eric) knows how different that place is from Dallas.
