One thing about William Dean Singleton: The chief executive of MediaNews Group makes people nervous.With MediaNews on the verge of buying four newspapers from McClatchy Co. for $1 billion, the question now is, what next?In Detroit, a union leader said employees were disappointed at voluntary buyouts and a decision not to print a Sunday edition of The Detroit News, owned by MediaNews. In San Jose, Calif., where the Mercury News [was] part of [last] Wednesday's deal, a union leader said he's concerned about staffing levels."People are nervous, as anyone would be when they don't know what their fate is," said Mike Bazeley, a senior Web editor at the Mercury News, which McClatchy has had on the selling block for months. "We've been on this roller coaster now since November."MediaNews Group Inc., publisher of The Denver Post and other newspapers, is also acquiring the Contra Costa Times, the Monterey County Herald and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. ...With no family pot of money and not much of a track record, Singleton has been buying newspapers since his 20s, earning an early reputation for being a cost cutter and taking on papers other people didn't want.Yet that's not the way he's run one of MediaNews' biggest names, The Denver Post, said Rick Edmonds, a researcher and writer at the Poynter Institute."It's different now. He may have evolved a bit in what his objectives and strategies are," Edmonds said. "If he ever was a black sheep in the industry, he's not anymore. He's very much an industry leader."More of this article...Search Google News for more quotes by Rick Edmonds...
