Latest Round of Losses at N.Y. Times and Gannett

(MoneyWatch)  Newspaper execs from The Big Chill generation might as well be singing "Monday, Monday"* along with The Mamas and the Papas, on their way in to start the workweek these days.

Today's pro-forma dose of bad news starts with Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper chain, announced its earnings fell 9 percent in Q-1, the latest victim of a crashing advertising market in a weakening economy. The biggest drop was in classified ads (16 percent), aka as The Craigslist Effect.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press announced last week that moguls Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell have been appointed to its Board Of Directors. Murdoch, of course, acquired Dow Jones & Co. last December, bringing The Wall Street Journal into his global media empire.

Journal execs are reportedly showing up at the office on Sundays nowadays because Murdoch often does that, "to set an example." The first Sunday he chose to make his point was Easter. "What sets Rupert apart is that after he's made a major acquisition, he goes in and works it and gets it running the way he wants it to...," says Arthur Siskind, senior adviser to Murdoch.

Trash-talker Zell took control of Tribune Co. the same month that Murdoch got the Journal. His company now owns the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, nine other daily newspapers and 23 television stations.

Late last week, amidst reports he may sell the L.A. Times to Hollywood mogul David Geffen, Zell predicted double-digit losses for The Tribune Co. in Q-1.

On Friday, The New York Times Co. released its own bad news, a 10.6 percent decline in print and online revenue in the first quarter. The family-owned Times Co. recently accepted two new directors as representatives of the two hedge funds, Harbinger Capital Partners and Firebrand Partners, which have jointly acquired a large stake in the company, and who are demanding a business model shift from the traditional newspaper mode to a much more aggressive investor in digital properties.

"About" the only good news in the Times earnings report was that its online About.com unit, posted a 9.5 percent rise in revenue from a year earlier.
* "Monday, Monday, can't trust that day..."