EDITORIAL – Big Valley News had a booth at the Madera Fair in Hatfield Hall earlier this month. It was a great chance to meet some of our readers and talk about the issues in Madera that concerned them. You would think with all of the problems facing Madera with Freeway 99 traffic, homelessness, and the overgrowth of vegetation in the Fresno River, there would have been many more important topics to discuss. Still, the one thing on everyone's mind was what has become of the Madera Tribune since the death of its publisher, Chuck Doud, and what the future holds for the struggling twice-weekly newspaper.
The one phrase I heard multiple times was how happy I must be that the Tribune was on its last legs and would soon become part of Madera's history. My answer, I think, surprised many when I told them what has been happening to our city's newspaper over the last five years is not only tragic for our community but breaks my heart personally. I am the last person in Madera who wants to see the Madera Tribune close. That paper is the heart and soul of our town. It is the voice of our community. Big Valley News cannot be the "voice of a community" as long as it is only my voice.
Not many people in Madera or even at the Tribune knew that for the last ten years, Chuck and I would meet for lunch once or twice a year to discuss the future of the newspaper. We would never meet in Madera but would have lunch in Fresno or Merced. I wonder what the talk around Madera would have been if we had just met at the Vineyard like everyone else.
Jack Porter and Chuck Doud were friends despite the battles between the Madera Tribune and Madera Online before Chuck came to town. After I changed the name and focus of the Madera Online website to what Big Valley News is now, Chuck became one of my closest friends and even a mentor. I valued his opinion and the advice he gave me. I know he respected my ability to track down a story. I would often share content with the Tribune when they were in need, and Chuck always returned the favor.
Over the years, Chuck shared what he feared about ‘online’ news. He saw the mistakes the Fresno Bee made in the beginnings of the online information age and knew that once the Genie was out of the bottle, it's nearly impossible to get him back in there. How could you ever go back to a pay version once your readers got used to the news being free? In a way, he was 100 percent right. But the business model of Big Valley News never included a subscription plan. I believe that both an online and/or the print newspaper can be supported by advertiser dollars.
When I first met Chuck Doud, he had the same passion for the news business that I did, but that passion dimmed from my friend's eyes over the last few years. Even before Chuck lost his beloved wife Annette Doud in 2018 of Cystic Fibrosis, I could tell that my friend was tired. I will always believe that the pressures of maintaining the Madera Tribune is what finally did him in. His health was failing, and he assigned many of his daily tasks to other staff members.
Probably his biggest mistake was giving too much editorial control to freelance-writer DJ Becker, who, in my opinion, did quite a bit to hurt the newspaper's reputation with long-time subscribers with her constant attacks on the Madera City Council. While Becker was never officially an employee of the Madera Tribune, but a stringer paid per article, her services were canceled by the remaining staff members following Doud's death.
After Chuck's death, articles in the Tribune and his obituary listed Chuck as the newspaper’s owner. However, according to the corporation's bylaws, Madera Printing and Publishing Company (Madera Tribune), which Chuck formed in 2004 with Terry Earls, Thomas Elias, Jay Berman, and Monty Pistoresi, only shows Chuck as president and majority shareholder. Earls passed away soon after the company formed and never actually invested in the company nor held any shares. Swift Communications, a newspaper publisher in Carson City, Nevada, had a minority stake in the paper but sold its shares back to the Tribune, who then sold those shares to the Tribune's former business manager Leonard Soliz.
Despite a board of directors for the newspaper and bylaws that dictate a line of succession for the paper's leadership, the Doud's children and their attorney have seized control of what is left of the newspaper. They have not communicated well with those investors who helped Chuck buy the paper 18 years ago from Sierra Pacific Publishing. The bylaws clearly show Thomas Elias as the vice president of the corporation and Chuck's successor, and Jay Berman as the third legitimate member of the board of directors.
My only communications with any of the ‘Doudettes' has been with Mary Doud, Chuck's daughter in Seattle, Washington, who seems to control his estate. When I reached out to share my condolences with the family and inquire about the future of the newspaper in March, her response was, "Frankly, I've been very busy. As I respect who you are in your community, being the executor of my father's estate, running my three businesses, and my family comes first. Please understand that, and I will communicate as I have time."
After that, I made a cash offer for Mary Doud’s shares of the Madera Tribune and was told her sister would be contacting me. That was six months ago, and I was never contacted. Meanwhile, the Tribune continues to sputter along with what appears to be no leadership. Investors still have unanswered questions, employees still have jobs, and despite the phones being shut off for two days in March, the operation at the paper continues to produce two issues a week with minimal revenue-generating advertisements.
A buyer, who operated newspapers in California's Central Coast area, has expressed interest in acquiring the newspaper and turning it around. In addition, Big Valley News has expressed interest in working with the Doud family to save Chuck's paper and return it to being a thriving five-day-a-week publication for all of Madera County. But nine months since Chuck left us to join his wife Annette in Heaven, the Doud children still seem to be too busy with other details to have the time to keep their dad's dream alive.
It makes me sad and genuinely breaks my heart. Chuck and Madera deserved better.
