McClatchy publishes the Sacramento Bee and roughly a dozen other papers, about the same number as the Swift Newspapers, Inc. of Reno. Swift owns our Sun and World as well as the Bonanza and South Lake Tahoe's Tribune. Swift also owns other papers in Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon.

McClatchy is making a bet on the future of newspapers at a time "when papers are bleeding subscribers and advertisers to the Internet and other rivals," according to a March 13 story in the Bee. Knight Ridder was the second largest newspaper chain in the USA behind Gannett. Co. Of the 32 Knight Ridder papers McClatchy is buying, 12 will be sold, including the giant San Jose Mercury News and the ancient Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sun + World
The best information obtainable so far is that the larger Sun will be the survivor and the World will be a once-a-week insert along with the familiar bundle of advertising pieces from Home Depot, etc. in Nevada. It is also likely that the re-configured Sun will beef up its Internet offering as newspapers everywhere are doing. With this shift, however, management runs the risk of decreasing profit margins for both the Sun and its parent, Swift. Declining profits at McClatchy and Knight Ridder were a major reason they made a deal. According to the Wall Street Journal, last year McClatchy saw its 20-year record of circulation increases "snapped."

What does a Sierra-Sun-Only Mean to Local Businesses?
A stronger Sun could be healthy for businesses if, in fact, the Sun becomes a valuable information source for residents of the area. But that will take some doing. Weekly and semi-weekly papers, as the Sun and World have always been, have a rhythm of their own that revolves primarily around feature-oriented stories and event announcements, with only a smattering of up-to-date news. To switch from one to another is to go from peacefully riding a train to screaming for one's life on a roller coaster.

A stronger Sun could also be good for local businesses if it emphasizes local advertising over inserts imported from its parent company. But putting out a daily with substance uses a lot of paper, staff, and ink, so ad rates could crawl upward, particularly if the Sun and World merger is prompted by profit concerns in the first place, which is probably the case. So time will tell how businesses in Truckee and on the North Shore will fare.

What does a Sierra-Sun-Only Mean to Local Residents?
The people of Tahoe and Truckee have long lived in a local-news shadow: we have no local TV channel, only one lightly staffed radio station, and no truly home-grown newspapers anymore. And almost all the magazines and other print media published in the area are aimed at visitors. So, fractured by history, county lines, and the Mt. Pluto mountain group between Truckee and the North Shore, the region lacks a common voice regardless of its inherent cross-dependency. It is possible that a consolidated Sun can achieve a critical mass enabling it to be a unifying force. We are all in the same economic lifeboat. The vitality of the North Shore is vital to Truckee's well being; and vice versa. You can see it in the names chosen: Tahoe Donner; Northstar-at-Tahoe; Reno/Tahoe Airport; etc.

If the new Sun is Truckee-centered--and the truth is that Truckee is where the population and the growth is--then the North Shore will slide further down the economic ladder. The "villages" in Squaw and Northstar plus a restless Truckee downtown will take the cream and most of the milk from the visitor cow; and locals will continue to ratchet up their spending in Reno and Carson City malls. Then as the North Shore of Lake Tahoe spirals deeper into economic hell, everyone else will feel the heat. Tahoe will be simply a place to take a quick look while passing through the Sierra.

There are virtually no regional voices in this area. The Sierra Sun should try to fill the void.