All the news that's fit to print? : a comparative content analysis examining the effects of changing ownership on Chattanooga's newspapers

For most of the 20*^ Century, Chattanoogans witnessed a relentless rivalry in which two family-owned, ideologically opposed newspapers were pitted against one another. Indeed, when WEHCO Media, Inc.—a privately held, family owned chain based in Little Rock—bought The Times and Free Press in 1988, Chattanooga was the last major city of its size in Tennessee—and one of the few in the Nation—to have two competing dailies. WEHCO, named for owner Walter E. Hussman, Jr., has pledged to maintain the best of both papers and, in the process, has created a "hybrid" paper that carries material from both its predecessors.

A great deal of scholarly work has been done to assess changes in content quality resulting from newspaper buyouts and acquisitions. This study is an examination of the content changes that have resulted from the purchase and forced marriage of two long-time rival newspapers. (The author acknowledges a personal interest in this study since he was employed by The Times early in his career.)

A content analysis of 30 issues, 10 each of The Times, the Free Press and the hybrid paper was conducted. The papers were assessed for the degree to which they evidenced established quality attributes. The results were coded and the content quality of each paper was compared. The results show that, while the hybrid paper has a larger news hole and ranks higher in most of the selected quality criteria, Chattanoogans may be getting something less than the sum of the papers that preceded it.