Orange County Register names new publisher
The Orange County Register shook up its leadership and named a new publisher, following a string of financial setbacks at the paper and its parent company.
Richard Mirman, a media novice and former casino executive, replaced publisher Aaron Kushner, the Register announced. Kushner, a former greeting card executive whose 2100 Trust purchased Register parent Freedom Communications in 2012, is staying on as Freedom’s CEO.
The leadership change comes as Freedom has struggled to expand its reach in Southern California. Last month, it closed its 5-month-old Los Angeles Register and cut 29 newsroom positions. In June, it stopped daily publication of the Long Beach Register and imposed companywide furloughs as dozens of O.C. Register staffers took buyouts.
With Mirman, the Register is betting on another publisher with no newspaper experience to turn around its fortunes.
Mirman, 48, served in several executive marketing roles at Harrah’s Entertainment in Las Vegas, where he introduced a customer loyalty card for the company that is now named Caesars Entertainment Corp.
Analysts say the print industry could benefit from an outsider’s perspective.
Newspaper publishing is “really ripe for a moment when we open this up to new areas, because it really needs a bold reinvention of the product,” said Gabriel Kahn, co-director of the Media, Economics and Entrepreneurship program at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “Having said that, the playbook Kushner has followed with the O.C. Register has been among the most traditional we have seen.”
Kahn said Kushner’s bet on print has made the Register “behind the times in terms of innovating.”
Despite setbacks in expanding to Los Angeles and Long Beach, Kahn said that the Register is still the dominant news source in Orange County and that a savvy publisher could refocus the company toward its core strengths.
“It still has good penetration in terms of paying subscribers, and it’s been in the public eye a lot more than previously,” he said.
Mirman also brings marketing skills gained from the gambling sector, Kahn said.
“I will say this about the casino industry — it has traditionally done a good job figuring out who its customers are and finding ways to interact with them,” he said. “That is exactly what the newspaper industry has been bad at, not understanding the customers. You had a one-size-fits-all product, and you try to shove it down the throat of the consumer.”
Gary Thompson, a spokesman for Caesars Entertainment, said Mirman helped develop a loyalty program that, through data analysis, allowed the company to better understand where customers “spent their time and money while staying with us.”
“He was a mathematical wizard,” Thompson said. “He understood the value of data and being able to address changing customer behavior.”
The loyalty program, according to Thompson, encouraged guests to keep spending money at their hotels and casinos.
Kushner did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. It is unclear whether Kushner was pressured to step down.
Kushner will focus on “Freedom’s broader expansion and the development of new business opportunities and partnerships,” according to a company news release. Mirman, a Freedom investor, will serve as the Orange County Register’s interim publisher and chief executive and will handle “Freedom’s planned expansion in California within the Register,” the company said.
“We have accomplished a great deal in our first two years owning the Orange County Register,” Kushner said in a statement. “I am confident Rich [Mirman] will help lead the Register to the next level of growth and profitability.”
Mirman told The Times that his goal is to expand readership in Orange County and introduce the Register to “a wide universe of readers.”
“My contribution to the Register is focused on the business side of the newspaper. Growing the circulation, the marketing, acquiring new customers and growing sales,” he wrote in an email. “All things I’ve been involved in doing across various industries and companies.”
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times filed a lawsuit against the Register, accusing the company of breach of contract and failure to pay at least $2.46 million in delivery fees. The Times terminated its distribution agreement with the paper this month after the Register switched to other vendors.
The Register has consistently been late on payments for distributing its papers ever since falling behind in April 2013, according to the lawsuit. The Times said its damages may exceed $4 million.
“The Register has repeatedly broken its promises and breached its agreements,” the lawsuit said. “By contrast, The Times performed as it said it would.”
Since switching to a new carrier Oct. 4, the Register has been plagued with delivery problems. The paper sought to appease irate subscribers after delivery problems left them paperless for days. Some subscribers have complained on social media that they have yet to receive their paper.
In an email last week, Kushner said The Times “refused to guarantee uninterrupted delivery of our paper.”
“We were left with no choice but to transition to a new delivery service,” Kushner told The Times.
