Will The Mercury Rise Or Fall?

Nancy March is unshakable when it comes to her passion: “Being first, being right.”

Years ago, she considered that a “hard job,” she said.

A lot has changed since then. Even before the most recent economic downturn, the newspaper industry struggled for a decade or more to come to grips with technology-driven changes in the delivery of news to the public. The mainstream emergence of the Internet in the mid-1990s forced newspapers to adapt quickly to a new medium that didn't fit their traditional business models. 

Advertising became measured in mouse-clicks instead of page inches. It also got a lot cheaper. Websites like Craigslist and eBay eroded newspapers' classified ad sections, which had long been an industry cash cow.

Meanwhile, readers began to demand more. Instant updates. More news, faster and available around the clock. 

Today, March, editor of Pottstown-based The Mercury, appreciates news production as a nonstop operation that can be published from almost anywhere via a handheld device.

She also supports another recent change at The Mercury - a daily anchor for the borough and surrounding areas since 1931.

Last week, The Mercury’s owner, Journal Register Company, announced Alden Global Capital purchased the company.

“Since emerging from bankruptcy protection in August 2009, and under the new leadership, the Journal Register Company has been transformed into an innovative, digitally focused multi-media company,” a JRC press release states. 

March echoed that. The Mercury’s change in ownership represents a “vote of confidence” in the paper’s value, she said. 

“It’s a change in investment,” March said. 

Not everyone sees it that way.

Martin Langeveld of Nieman Journalism Lab, a project of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, describes Alden Global Capital as “a secretive hedge fund that specializes in ‘distressed opportunities’ such as companies emerging from bankruptcy — including newspaper groups.”

In the article, “The Reports of Its Death Are Greatly Anticipated,” SavePottstown.com displays the image of a gravestone that dons “The Mercury” and refers to the paper as “dinosaur media.”

And according to an article on the website of the Columbia Journalism Review, John Paton, JRC’s CEO, “stressed a culture of transparency, community engagement, slashing costs without any layoffs in editorial or sales and, above all, an upending of the daily news production process that he says is a byproduct of a print schedule that is irrelevant by now.”

Some things never change

March began her career as a reporter for the Mercury roughly 36 years ago. Her early assignments included covering Pottstown School Board meetings in the 1970’s and 1980’s, she said.

When The Mercury is delivered late, say, from a power outage, “Our phones ring off the hook,” March said. 

March said her readers and staff motivate her to plow forward despite struggles to keep the paper strong. 

“I have amazing reporters, amazing photographers,” she said. “They are an incredible staff.”

But the skeleton crew is stretched, she said of having too few staffers and too many stories to cover. 

“It’s very challenging,” March said of running the shoestring group on a packed schedule. “It’s extremely challenging.”

March recently covered a reporter assignment herself because she was short on staff. "It had to be done,” she said. 

She used Twitter via an iPad to promote her story. March said the immediacy of feedback in the social media world gives her a “rush.” 

The internet and social media including Facebook changed the way news is delivered, she said. 

“You become the eyes and ears for the … world,” she said. “It’s very exciting.”

Changes to come 

Under the new ownership, The Mercury will include additional digital products.

Rivalry from online news publications will only enhance the paper.

“Competition makes you sharper,” March said. 

Staying the same 

While some digital aspects will be beefed up, the paper could stay, well, paper.

Unlike getting the news via phone or computer, many folks still want to feel a newspaper in their hands, she said. 

“We are not going away,” March said, calling the newspaper's new owner a “strong, vibrant” company.

While that promise might sound somewhat lionhearted -- considering the death of so many newspapers from a global stance -- some Pennsylvania towns have kept their papers alive.

York County, Pa. is covered by three daily newspapers.

Lancaster Farming enjoys a healthy niche market across the U.S. and has been in continuous weekly print since 1955, the paper’s website states.

In contrast? Business Insider’s website reported in 2009, 10,000 newspaper jobs were lost, print ad sales fell 30 percent and 23 of the top 25 newspapers reported circulation declines between seven and 20 percent. The newspaper market continues to fall in many areas of the country.

March’s former coworker, Tom Murray, said he sympathizes with newspapers such as the Mercury and their struggle to survive in today’s harsh economic climate. 

Murray was employed by JRC from 2005 to 2011 as Main Line Life managing editor. He later worked as executive editor of Main Line Media News and today is a regional editor for Patch.com.

“I respect her and I think she does a great job,” Murray said of March. “They just don’t have enough people.” 

The Mercury has a long history in Pottstown, he said.

“If they take away that paper … that would crush that town,” he said. “That’s a staple for these people.”

But Alden is known to put profit first, Murray said.

“This company is either going to consolidate or close,” Murray said. “(Alden) is not in this to lose money.”

‘We all win’

Lower Pottsgrove Township resident Joe Zlomek, who served as editor of The Mercury for a few years in the 1980s, is optimistic about the paper's future.

“For those people who still favor reading a printed publication, it would be hard to imagine greater Pottstown without The Mercury or something like it. I doubt the recent purchase of Journal Register Company will mean an end to The Mercury's print edition, as some have speculated. In fact, it may prolong it," Zlomek said via email to Pottstown Patch.

Zlomek is now managing editor of his own own online news network. The Sanatoga Post, The Limerick Post, and The Pottstown Post operate in the backyard of his former newspaper.

In Zlomek's view, competition for news benefits readers.

"With the explosive local growth of electronic news services - those now online (including The Mercury), those delivered by cable or satellite, and those sent to mobile devices - Alden and Journal Register face far more competition for readership than ever before. The terrific result for consumers, of course, is they now can choose to receive news from many providers. Ultimately it means our community is better informed, and when that happens we all win,” Zlomek said.

Labor Of Love

Meanwhile, March, a Boyertown native, said she will continue to do what she knows best: Give residents of Pottstown and surrounding areas the news.

Her tone is often serious but sometimes soft when she talks of The Mercury. 

“I have a lot of history here,” she said. “This is my home.”

Editor's note: Pottstown Patch Editor Teresa McMinn reports to Murray.