San Diego Union-Tribune Could Be Sold

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 24, 2008 at 12:19 PM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The publisher of the San Diego Union-Tribune is looking to sell the paper. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The San Diego-based publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune is looking to sell the paper. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The Copley Press says it's hired an investment banker to explore strategic options for the company's future, including a potential sale of the Union-Tribune.

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Harold Fuson Jr. Is the executive vice president of the company.

He says the last couple of years have been difficult for the newspaper industry.

Fuson says the company believes the business will rebound with the economy.

Copley Press has hired Evercore Partners, a New York-based investment banking firm to look at options for selling the newspaper.

Evercore represented Copley Press in the sale of newspapers it previously owned in Los Angeles and the Midwest. Those sales were completed in 2006 and 2007.

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The Union-Tribune is the 21st largest U.S. daily newspaper in circulation.

It has more than 1000 employees at its Mission Valley location.

Copley Press was incorporated in Illinois in 1928, the same year it purchased San Diego's Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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