The Grand Forks Forum

It was "Ice cream bars for everyone!" on Wednesday afternoon at the Grand Forks Herald as Herald publisher/editor Mike Jacobs made the announcement that many had been anticipating: Forum Communications of Fargo - owner of the Fargo Forum, WDAZ TV, WDAY TV, WDAY radio, and numerous small regional newspapers - is buying the Grand Forks Herald. Check out the story at the Fargo Forum. There had been other interested would-be buyers, but Forum must have wanted the Herald enough that they were willing to put up the highest bid. It doesn't look like we'll know very soon just how high that bid actually was because Forum requested that the financial details not be revealed. Forum Communications is also buying the Duluth News Tribune. It's actually quite amazing how a relatively small newspaper (the Fargo Forum) has grown into a regional conglomerate that now owns three major newspapers and has major holdings in the television and radio sectors.

As someone who has never worked at the Herald and who admittedly doesn't really know that much about the other would-be buyers, I would think that this sale (in the words of one of my heroes) is "a good thing". The other bidders only saw the Herald as a entity that could possibly bring them money. In other words, if they had been the highest bidder, the Herald would have been marginalized by these other companies into being just another business endeavor. Instead, Forum has long, long ties to the region and knows Grand Forks very well. It has operated the only network affiliate in Grand Forks for several decades and, even if the Fargo Forum has occasionally enjoyed tossing a snide remark or comment at Grand Forks or UND over the years, Forum Communications understands Grand Forks and...maybe I'm being naive..."cares" about Grand Forks. The Herald will of course be a business endeavor for Forum, but I'm hoping (and thinking) that they see their new purchase as even more than just a new entity in their ever-expanding media conglomeration...I'm thinking they see it as an opportunity to continue the grand tradition of the Grand Forks Herald.

Ok, maybe I'm just being way too pollyannaish here, huh? I guess time will tell.

••Tu-Uyen Tran - a current Herald employee - doesn't seem overly-thrilled about joining the "Home Team" (how many jabs can he take at WDAZ anyways?), but he also doesn't seem overly "doom and gloom" about the sale either. He does say that there aren't any expected layoffs so I guess that means we can just call him "a Herald employee" and not "a current Herald employee", huh? Hey, I got no problem with a little friendly kidding now and then. Here's hoping Tu-Uyen's wishes for a better Herald website come to pass. I've always been jealous of the Fargo Forum's website.

••Dakota Huseby has some questions about possible antitrust issues that this sale may raise, but she does admire the Fargo Forum's "aggressiveness" when it comes to covering news and hopes that some of that might come to our fair city. I loved Dakota's revelation that this sale now means that, as far as news coverage in Grand Forks goes, there will Forum Communications vs. KNOX/Grand Forks Life. Hey, maybe that's not all bad. There should be plenty of Grand Forks residents who don't want to get all of their local news from essentially the same source so why not turn on the radio or...(crossing fingers)...check out what some guy on the Internet has to say?

The sale of the Herald to Forum Communications does raise a bunch of questions in my mind. Will this change anything with the Herald's coverage of UND/NDSU sports? How about future editorials on the Sioux nickname? Will Tu-Uyen and Tom Dennis have to move their blogs over to the Forum's "Area Voices" blog website? Will the Fargo Forum come to the realization that it doesn't need to mention what state Grand Forks is in when it mentions us in an article? Really, "Grand Forks" is fine..."Grand Forks, ND" is just being snide.

Update - 6/8/2006
Today's Herald has an interesting story on what the sale to Forum Communications might mean for the Grand Forks Herald.