A tale of two families

When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Aregood resigned as editorial page editor of the Philadelphia Daily News six years ago to take the same post at the Newark Star-Ledger, he left more than a job. He also left one of the nation's most respected newspaper companies, Knight-Ridder Inc., a publisher that blended a reputation for journalistic excellence nurtured by the Knight family with hard-nosed business acumen honed by the Ridder family. That 1974 merger of the Knights and Ridders had produced a publicly owned company whose 31 daily newspapers (including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Detroit Free Press, Miami Herald and San Jose Mercury News) often win awards for journalistic excellence.

In moving to Newark, Aregood joined Advance Publications, a private company tightly controlled by the Newhouse family ever since its inception in 1922. While the family's newspapers were quite profitable, their reputation for journalistic excellence was another matter. For years, the company's papers (including the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Portland Oregonian) were viewed as mediocre news organizations, at best. Unlike Knight-Ridder, with its vast team of well-trained professional managers who recruited ambitious journalists, Newhouse was run by a small clutch of family members who at times seemed indifferent to the company's newspaper holdings. The family lavished more attention on the glitzier (if less profitable) magazines in the company's well-known Condé Nast division—like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue. Still, Aregood says he has no regrets about his move to Newark.

Already a subscriber? Sign In

About the Author(s)

Related Articles

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

The Family Business newsletter. Weekly insight for family business leaders and owners to improve their family dynamics and their businesses.