Some important happenings in local media this week: the Boston Globe has reached a milestone of sorts when it comes to digital subscribers. Also, it's been revealed that Globe owner John Henry made a bid to buy Wynn Resorts’ soon-to-open Everett casino. Plus, major cuts at local papers owned by Gatehouse Media. Northeastern University journalism professor and WGBH News contributor Dan Kennedy spoke with WGBH All Things Considered anchor Barbara Howard about everything happening in the local media landscape this week. This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Barbara Howard: So let's start with the Globe and its digital subscriptions. The paper now has more online subscribers than print subscribers - roughly 112,000 digital subscribers to just under 100,000 print subscriptions.

So how does this compare to other dailies like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal?

Dan Kennedy: The three national papers that you mentioned all have many more digital subscribers than they have print subscribers. This is a line that they crossed several years ago.

Howard: Why are we so slow in Boston?

Kennedy: I think that when you're on a regional basis, first of all it's easier to distribute print if it's in a limited geographic area. So print has been slower to die. And then the digital switch-over has also been slower in part because you're not trying to appeal to a national audience that's trying to get that access to digital any way that they can. I think it's important to keep in mind that this isn't a matter of one passing the other on the way down. In fact, the Globe's combined digital and print subscription base is about 8,000 higher today than it was three years ago. So that's growth, and that's a good thing.

Howard: Is the Globe on steady footing?

Kennedy: More or less. I mean, John Henry said late last year that the Globe was at least marginally profitable.

Howard: Well staying with the Globe, it was revealed that John Henry made a bid to buy Wynn Resorts' casino in Everett while the company was under investigation by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Now the paper covered that investigation pretty widely, and it published a number of editorials about those difficulties. Does the news of Henry's interest concern you? Should the paper have backed off editorially?

Kennedy: Well if you read the Globe's story, it sounds like no one in the news or editorial side of the Globe even knew that John Henry was interested in maybe buying the Everett casino.

Howard: John Henry not only shouldn't have told them, but didn't tell them about his interest, and that was correct?

Kennedy: Well yeah, that was correct. But let's say he had gone ahead and bought it. That would have put the Globe in an incredibly awkward position trying to cover the casino, which is an ongoing source of controversy. I'm sure it will be for years to come. Not only that, I think that John Henry has been very good about not messing around with the newsroom. But the fact is, he and Linda Henry, who is the managing partner of the Globe, are quite involved in the editorial pages, which is perfectly appropriate for an owner. But when you're going to do that, it would be nice to not dive into incredibly controversial businesses at the same time.

Howard: Let's talk about GateHouse Media. The company owns several papers in the region, including the Patriot Ledger in Quincy …

Kennedy: Well it owns more than 100 papers in Greater Boston, most of them weeklies.

Howard: That's right. It's part of their chain of small weeklies that come out in their individual cities and towns.

Kennedy: That's right.

Howard: Also on the larger scale, the MetroWest Daily News, the Providence Journal.

Kennedy: That's right. The Worcester Telegram and Gazette.

Howard: Right. Now, they've announced major cuts this week. What have you heard?

Kennedy: Earlier this year, GateHouse eliminated about 60 positions in newsrooms across the country. We don't have a good handle yet on what's going on this time. But early indications are that maybe as many as 80 positions have been eliminated from newsrooms.

Howard: Well Mike Reed, the CEO of GateHouse's parent company - New Media Investment Company - his numbers for how many people were laid off or shifted around in the company are all over the place. Anecdotally, what are you hearing?

Kennedy: Potentially it's a lot less damaging if people are being moved into reporting positions rather than the positions being eliminated completely. But we don't really have a good picture of exactly what's going on. I know a copy editor who got laid off, and she certainly wasn't offered a reporting position.

Howard: Where was that?

Kennedy: At the Providence Journal.

Howard: And we're hearing that at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, there were six staffers laid off. That’s sizable when you consider how much newsrooms have shrunk.

Kennedy: That's right. And these newsrooms are already pretty small.

Howard: These papers serve a specific function that the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other bigger papers can't necessarily do.

Kennedy: That's right, and even when you get down to the level of the Gatehouse weeklies, they're the only people keeping an eye on city hall and the school committee and all of that.

Howard: All right. Well thanks, Dan.

Kennedy: Thank you, Barbara.

Howard: That’s Northeastern University journalism professor and WGBH News contributor Dan Kennedy.