aardvark: Since the now-shuttered U-T TV was losing an estimated $500,000 a month, Manchester had to take a hit on it. Newspaper circulation is declining. I don't know about advertising, but those who eyeball it say it is probably dropping.

At the time Manchester bought the paper, some were saying he would go online with it, move the operation to cheaper quarters, and develop the Mission Valley property, along with other properties he picked up. He has filed for entitlements to develop the Mission Valley parking lot. Yes, the scenario you suggest may have been one he had in mind from the outset. Best, Don Bauder

I don't think it's a lack of scooping stories that makes the U-T continue to lose money, I think it's the product in general. I can't read that paper. The idea that scooping a story is more important than getting the story RIGHT, is a bad idea. The fact that the U-T can do neither is why they are struggling, in my opinion. They still have some good people there, barely. But it's obvious that those people no longer make decisions. And that's sad for San Diego.

David Dodd: Yes, too often in reading a story you sense a heavy hand -- or fear of a heavy hand -- coming from higher up. You can't always blame the reporter. He or she may write a perfectly good story, but the next level of editor may fear wrath from above, and gut it. Best, Don Bauder

Visduh: Oh yes: ad rates should come down as circulation falls. It has been clear for many months that Manchester did not significantly gain readers from his $12 million purchase of the North County Times although, again, he may come out OK on the real estate he bought.

I agree: the U-T is too late with too little on many stories. Best, Don Bauder

San Diego Highwayman: Yes, the quality has gone down. Of course, that's true of other metro dailies, too, but the U-T quality decline appears to be more pronounced.

I know of metro dailies that have shrunk considerably, but have made very good use of the smaller amount of space by featuring excellent investigative reporting and the like.

I keep saying this, but it is well worth repeating: when Manchester and Lynch announced at the outset that reporters would be cheerleaders for business, the military, and a downtown football stadium, they were announcing that the paper would be a propaganda vehicle that could not be trusted to present the truth. I don't know that the U-T under the current ownership will ever get over that initial pronouncement. That is one of several reasons leading me to believe that Manchester might possibly sell. Best, Don Bauder

zollner: Clearly, the U-T with its Tea Party editorial positions -- often placed on page one -- is aiming for a diminishing audience in San Diego. The city is Democratic and the county is about 50-50.

Maybe the U-T's target is an upscale audience largely in the affluent sectors north of I-8. Manchester's purchase of the North County Times and weeklies in that region suggests this. But his capital outlay to buy the U-T suggests he has paid a lot to garner a narrow market. Further, it is clear he did not capture North County Times readers.

Also, advertisers aiming for that market have other efficient ad buys. To get a broad swath of advertisers, the U-T has to have at least reasonably good penetration throughout the county. Numbers suggest it is not getting that.

One explanation is Manchester may want the paper as a propaganda vehicle for downtown corporate welfare projects, figuring that eventually readership will sink to the point that he can go all-online and develop the Mission Valley property. One problem with that strategy is it might be some time before Mission Valley is ready for more development. Best, Don Bauder

As some anecdotal evidence of the failure to convert NCT subscribers, I noted at the time that three of my four closest neighbors were taking the Times up until it was no longer published. There is no indication that any one of them switched to the Mill, nor the LA Times. Those households just don't have a newspaper any more. And so it goes.

If I were a retail ad buyer now, as I was many years ago, I think I would put my circulars into one of those mailed vehicles such as all the supermarkets use or the Pennysaver, and hit all the households. This UT product just doesn't do the sort of job it did thirty years ago.

Visduh: I agree. It is not an efficient advertising buy for so many kinds of advertisers. The alternatives you mention are good ones.

People who cancel their U-T subscriptions tell me the papers continue to be delivered and are likely to pile up on the porch or lawn. This is a sign of desperation. Best, Don Bauder

"People who cancel their U-T subscriptions tell me the papers continue to be delivered and are likely to pile up on the porch or lawn." -- Meaning that the U-T's reported circulation numbers might include thousands of papers delivered to homes that have already cancelled?

Matt101: Yes, that is possible. Also, papers sold for one penny are counted as paid circulation. We know the U-T is selling papers for extremely low prices -- probably a penny -- to charitable organizations like churches. Those organizations sell the papers to patrons at the regular price, and consider the difference as contributions. The U-T counts the sale as paid circulation. Best, Don Bauder

If the hard-right editorial slant is aiming for a Tea Party audience, that's misguided. Conservatives who already no longer subscribe to a daily paper aren't going to sign up for the U-T en masse. They can get all the conservative groupthink they want from Fox News and talk radio, without paying for a newspaper subscription or having to pick up yesterday's paper and throw it in the trash can. (Because they're conservative, they probably don't recycle the newspaper. Ha.)

Matt101: True: conservatives have Fox, websites, magazines, hate radio such as Rush Limbaugh, etc. Best, Don Bauder

Ponzi: I have never been able to prove the Siberian lass, Manchester's new wife, is a mail order bride, so I have never said that. She did come here and divorced the person to whom she had been married. I couldn't reach her ex-husband and his lawyer wasn't talking. Best, Don Bauder

They aren't talking because they have been paid to keep totally quiet.

Visduh: That's possible, but a lawyer who won't talk about a client or ex-client may simply be following legal ethics. Best, Don Bauder

Anon92107: No. Any association of newspaper publishers could not force Manchester to sell. The ones who can do that are subscribers who can drop the paper and/or its digital edition and advertisers who can stop placing ads in it. Best, Don Bauder

I think that advertising dollars speak more loudly than subscribers, for some mysterious reason. It may be that the sales force is face-to-face with the ad buyers when they get the bad news, whereas a subscriber who lets his/her subscription lapse seldom says why. And after all, what's just one more or less subscriber? Virtually the entire supermarket industry has abandoned the newspapers, and now distributes color inserts by mail. And here, they all share the same mailer!

Few advertisers are making political statements. Most are just looking for the media that bring the customers through the door as efficiently as possible. That's what I did when I was a media buyer.