It’s earnings season in the corporate world, and that means newspaper publishers are disclosing the state of their finances.

Here’s a lesson. Those political ads during heated elections do boost the bottom line. At least that’s what is inferred from the earnings report of Gannett Co, former owner of the Honolulu Advertiser and, before that, the Honolulu Star-BUlletin.

According to an AP report:

Gannett Co. said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter net income dropped 12 percent, partially a result of the absence of the record-high political advertising that boosted its results a year earlier.

The media company, which publishes USA Today and owns dozens of newspapers and television stations, earned $90.7 million, or 39 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 29. That was down from $103.1 million, or 44 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012.

Further, AP reports, “revenue at the company’s broadcast division fell 16 percent to $228.2 million, largely due to the drop in political advertising.”

The NY Times reported good news and bad news, again according to AP.

The New York Times Co. said Thursday its fourth-quarter net income tumbled 63 percent, hurt by comparisons with the same period a year earlier that saw a hefty one-time gain and an extra week of revenue. The company’s earnings still beat Wall Street predictions.

So, low expectations means dropping revenue can still be good news.

I went looking for the earnings report by TorStar, publisher of the Toronto Star, which owns about a 20% share of Black Press, owner of the Star-Advertiser. TorStar includes information on the performance of its minority interest, just about the only public glimpse inside Black’s finances. It turns out those earnings won’t be reported until March 5.

So I did a little search for news about Black Press. Not much there, except for a little column in the Oceanside Star, a small British Columbia newspaper, probably not owned by Black.

The author, Neil Horner, tells of two meetings with Black Press owner, David Black.

The first meeting was fine – great, actually. I had just started in Fort St. James as a junior reporter with the Caledonia Courier and was pretty much living from chamber of commerce dinner to chamber of commerce dinner and food was very much at a premium.

I did my production for the Courier in Vanderhoof and David stopped by one such Saturday for a chat while on a regional tour of his papers.

He brought with him a giant bucket of chicken for lunch. Mmmmmm… chicken! I stationed myself strategically for the speech. Pretty soon I was full and had even managed to stash a few drumsticks for later. It was a memorable gorge.

Fast forward a year. It was again production day in the ‘Hoof and I was typing away when I slowly became aware of a presence looming beside me. I looked up at the tall, thin, bespectacled and be-suited loomer. “Hello,” I said, polite but blank. That clearly wasn’t what he was looking for.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” he said. He sounded cross.

Oh-oh! The next second ground on and on and still I drew a blank.

Then, wham! It hit me. “Oh yeah,” I blurted. “You’re the chicken guy!” “I’m David Black and I own this newspaper!” he roared.

I would be lying if I said we hit it off.

So there you go, another muddy puddle with a hat on it. Best to steer clear and learn your boss’s name and their boss’s names, as well. You never know. You might have to introduce them to somebody one day.

Boiled down, Horner’s advice, based on his experience: Bone up on the suits.

That’s advice I probably should have heeded back in 2001.

It was February 2001, before the Star Bulletin went independent under Black’s ownership. Reporters were being interviewed after being told we would all have to reapply for our jobs.

As I was waiting of my interview, I noted in this blog:

I believe the consultant brought in to run the interviews, Bob Poole, is the former editor in chief of the Victoria Times Colonist. At least it seems like a fair guess, given that Victoria is David Black’s home island. I suppose we could do a lot worse, from what I’ve seen of the Times Colonist, published there in the capitol of B.C.

One item about Poole caught my eye, a “dart” from the Columbia Journalism Review in 1998:

DART to the Times Colonist, in Victoria, British Columbia, for buttering-up a major advertiser. The October 31 edition carried a cheesy photo of the paper’s editor-in chief, Bob Poole, raising a cup in a smiling toast to a new line of products at the Island Farms Dairies. Next to the contented editor stood Island Farms’ “Farmer Vicki,” a promotions assistant sporting overalls and straw hat, and “Daisy,” the promotions department’s version of a huge, healthy cow.

Oops. I guess I’ll hear about that at next week’s interview.

I guess in this case, boning up on the incoming suit wasn’t such a good idea after all.