Weekly Whining

Responding to being over shadowed by the sale of the Palo Alto Daily News, the publisher of the Palo Alto Weekly took the opportunity to slap his competitor around. Publisher Bill Johnson said the sale was welcomed in hopes of making the Palo Alto Daily News responsible and respectable. Johnson also thought it would be helpful to have Knight Ridder figure out if free daily newspapers covering smaller communities can work.

Palo Alto Weekly editor Jay Thorwaldson weighs in with a piece that questions combined circulation figures for the local papers purchased by Knight Ridder.

Just a guess, but it seems likely that the folks over at the Palo Alto Weekly are steamed about having lost an opportunity. That's right, Knight Ridder will help you figure out why The Peninsula Times Tribune closed without being sold and the Palo Alto Weekly couldn't see a market in daily newspapers. We agree that PADN sometimes inserts opinion into stories--and the Palo Alto Weekly doesn't? It also may be that Knight Ridder is looking into the future knowing that big city newspapers have hit the wall on circulation and they're trying to figure out if they can survive. Thorwaldson's comments about circulation figures would be more interesting if he were to compare them with his product. Hint; it's lower. What does it say when the editor and publisher of a paper try their hands at critiquing the competition--besides the fact that they wouldn't let a reporter cover it.