MediaNews Man In Utah: He's In, He's Out

By: Lucia Moses Since Joseph H. Zerbey IV moved to Utah seven months ago to run the Newspaper Agency Corp. (NAC), the joint operating arm of Salt Lake City's two dailies, it has become harder and harder to keep up with his resume.

The most recent change came July 30 when Dominic Welch, who is both publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune and president of the business agency, fired Zerbey as agency general manager. But William Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group Inc., which owns the Tribune, quickly installed Zerbey as president and CEO of Kearns-Tribune LLC, the MediaNews unit that owns the Tribune -- making him Welch's boss.

Zerbey's chaotic experience mirrors the legal tug-of-war between MediaNews and Welch and the other managers who are under contract to run the paper.

MediaNews brought in Zerbey as president of NAC from his job as head of the York, Pa., joint operating agency (57.5% of which is owned by MediaNews). Soon after, he was made general manager when a judge barred major changes in the agency. Zerbey said the changes have been hard for his wife to understand, but he's taken them in stride. "I'm a big boy, and I've got thick skin," he said.

Zerbey said his new function is to represent MediaNews' interests, or, in Welch's words, "to watch me."

But Zerbey said that while he could fire the man who fired him, he has no interest in doing so: "He'd have to do something egregious. Dominic Welch has been here a long time. He's a likable guy, actually."

Zerbey's departure from NAC raises questions for the Tribune's partner, the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News, which hoped he could help it reach its longtime goal of converting to morning publication.

The whole scuffle started back in December, when Tribune managers sued to block MediaNews' $200-million purchase of the paper from AT&T Corp., claiming that MediaNews planned to violate what they say is their legal right to run the Tribune and purchase it in July 2002.

Welch said he fired Zerbey under pressure from MediaNews to cut costs amid low ad revenue. Zerbey believes his firing was an attempt by the managers to lower the value of the paper so they can buy it cheap.

The latest setup is already off to an uneasy start. Zerbey wants the Tribune to switch to MediaNews' newsprint supplier to save money, but Welch said he plans to stick with his existing supplier, with which he has a contract.