THE MORNING CALL, October 20, 2017

…Hearst is buying Rodale not just for the name recognition of its brands, but also its employees’ expertise in the health and wellness field, said Peter Kreisky, a New York media consultant.

“That expertise can be applied to create new products Rodale might not have been able to afford to create or launch,” he said. “Rodale ran out of funds to invest in the future of the business, but Hearst is a very different animal.”

Many Rodale employees will likely lose their jobs, Kreisky said. But Hearst won’t want to lose employees with the strongest institutional knowledge — many of whom live in and around Emmaus. Like Barrett, Kreisky thinks Hearst will take the Lehigh Valley’s cost of living into consideration and may even consider moving existing Hearst employees here.

“This is what other publishers have done with some regional brands, or with brands whose presence in New York is less important,” he said. “I would imagine they’ll leave the editorial side in place for a while until they figure it all out.”