Newspaper & Mailroom
Media General Creates Production and Distribution Unit Within Publishing Division
Tuesday 20. January 2009 - Media General (NYSE:MEG) is creating a new production and distribution unit within its Publishing Division, effective February 1, 2009.
The new Operations and Distribution Solutions Group will be responsible for all printing and distribution for the company’s 24 daily newspapers and more than 275 weekly newspapers and niche publications. A key focus for the new unit will be to expand outside sales for commercial printing, including pursuing opportunities for high-speed offset web printing, primarily with other newspapers and specialty publications.
Dale Lachniet, vice president and controller for Media General’s Publishing Division, has been named president of the new unit. The financial performance will be consolidated in the Publishing Division segment results.
“Media General has long recognized that the core competencies of our newspapers are gathering and distributing news and information and bringing advertisers and consumers together,” said Graham Woodlief, president of the Publishing Division. “Moving printing and distribution into a separate unit will allow publishers and managers to focus on content, sales and new products, including online opportunities. We expect this innovative approach to provide operating efficiencies.”
Media General has already consolidated manufacturing for its daily newspapers from 25 sites to 11.
Three regional vice presidents will report to Mr. Lachniet. They are Bill Barker, in charge of the unit’s operations in Tampa, Fla.; Sam Hightower, in charge of the Richmond, Central Virginia and Northern Virginia operations, and Bob Rogers, in charge of the operations in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the remainder of the company’s community newspapers, including six other Media General production sites.
Mr. Lachniet has been controller since 1996 and was named vice president in 1999. Before joining Media General, he worked for Ernst & Young and Price Waterhouse, where he worked with media and entertainment companies as well as other industries.