The newspaper industry is changing in several ways and it is a cause for concern.

One of the biggest changes is the sale of family owned papers by gigantic chain operations.

This happened in Tulsa a few years ago when the Lorton Family sold the Tulsa World to Berkshire Hathaway, a huge company controlled by billionaire Warren Buffet.  This move forced layoffs of older reporters who were replaced by younger and cheaper employees. The paper has fewer pages and is literally smaller than it once was.

The Oklahoman newspaper, which had been in the hands of the E.K. Gaylord Family for more than 100 years, was sold to Philip Anschutz of Colorado in 2011. A while ago, The Oklahoman laid off some workers when the Tulsa World began printing the Oklahoma City paper.

And now that newspaper, the largest paid paper in the state, has been sold to Gatehouse Media – a huge company based in New York City.

Gatehouse has 145 daily publications in 37 states. Here are their Oklahoma newspapers:

• Daily Ardmorite
• Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
• Bryan County News
• Grove Sun
• Delaware County Journal
• Marshall/Johnston County Shopper
• Friday Gazette
• Miami News-Record
• The Journal Record
• The Oklahoman
• Pawhuska Journal-Capital
• Shawnee News-Star

They own 16 papers in Arkansas, 25 papers in Texas (including the Austin American-Statesman), 20 papers in Kansas (including the Topeka Capital-Journal), 18 papers in Missouri and 10 papers in Louisiana. That’s a lot of newspapers in and around Oklahoma.

Why are these huge corporations buying papers when circulation is declining and revenues are dropping?

First, they can buy these papers are bargain prices because profits are dwindling and owners are tired of fighting loss of readers and ad revenue. These buyers seem to be convinced that they are better operators than the current owners and they can make them profitable through the economy of scale and layoffs.

And I think a big reason is that they have extremely wealthy ownership that want to influence the delivery of news in America. They all claim to let local management control news content and endorsements but that is not what is going on.

What does this all mean?

One result that the largest news staffs in Oklahoma’s two largest cities are ultimately controlled by corporations headquartered in Nebraska and New York. The Oklahoman not too many years ago was labeled “the most conservative newspaper” in the nation. It is doubtful that this new owner will have a conservative point of view and probably will be out of touch with ordinary citizens of our state.

And, of course, the sale of The Oklahoman preceded layoffs at that paper. The Tulsa World has had a series of layoffs since it was sold. The last one was blamed on the spike in the price of newsprint due to new tariffs in Canada. (That tariff issue has been resolved).

After buying the Tulsa World, Berkshire Hathaway Media Group bought almost every newspaper in the Tulsa metro area, including the Broken Arrow Ledger, the Owasso Reporter, the Sand Springs Leader, the Coweta American, the Wagoner Tribune and the Tulsa Business and Legal News.  The company merged the Wagoner Tribune with the Coweta American in 2016 and shut down the Broken Arrow Ledger. The Tulsa Business and Legal News was absorbed by the Tulsa World on March 31 and ceased publication. Also, the previous owners, based in Arkansas, had shut down the Glenpool Post, the Bixby Bulletin and the Jenks Journal.

This summer, Berkshire Hathaway Media Group contracted with Lee Enterprises to manage some of its papers.

Are you starting to get the picture?

Almost every month, some locally owned newspaper in Oklahoma goes out of business, is sold to an out-of-state corporation or reduces the number of days it publishes.

Circulation has plummeted for several reasons. First, newspapers are generally more liberal politically than their readers. Secondly, millennials and other young people don’t buy or read newspapers. Thirdly, people rely on their cellphones for news rather than paying for a newspaper.

This reason this is important is that newspapers jumpstart the news cycle. News directors at TV stations and some radio stations pursue stories they read in newspapers. That is true locally and true nationally.

And newspapers historically have been important because they keep an eye on the government. This was more vital when newspapers reported the news in an objective fashion.

Now, most stories are flavored with the progressive viewpoints of the writer and editors. If they like a politician (mostly Democrats and liberal Republicans), they will report on him differently than a conservative Republican. That affects headlines, selection of photos and, this is very important, what they won’t report in a story. They emphasize the questionable parts of the history of one politician and hide the bad parts of politicians they promote.

How does this affect the Tulsa Beacon?

From a financial standpoint, we are fine. Our circulation has dipped slightly but we have a core of solid subscribers.

Our mission is to deliver the truth in our news and then to add a Christian, conservative viewpoint in our columns and editorials. Make no mistake, secularists and progressives don’t like what we print and they want to make us stop.

Lord willing, we will keep on keeping on and try to stand against the tide of manipulation of the public in the news.