John Fountain writes:
I can't help but wonder whether I am a contributor to that demise. Long gone is my own home subscription to the Chicago Tribune, my hometown newspaper, the newspaper where I landed my first job as a full-time, full-fledged reporter. Even as a suburbanite, I might have kept my subscription had the delivery man been able to toss my newspaper into my doorway or simply place it in my roadside mailbox to ensure that on most days the Tribune I received was not stale and soggy. But truth is, the writing was already on the wall. For as my grandmother used to say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk free?"
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Sunday, February 1, 2009
Newspaper woes send Longview plant seeking new customers
The struggles of the newspaper industry are cutting into the core business at Longview’s Norpac newsprint plant, but the company is trying to “book” other business to compensate.
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Printing The NYT Costs Twice As Much As Sending Every Subscriber A Free Kindle
Not that it's anything we think the New York Times Company should do, but we thought it was worth pointing out that it costs the Times about twice as much money to print and deliver the newspaper over a year as it would cost to send each of its subscribers a brand new Amazon Kindle instead.
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Advertiser deal cuts staff pay 10%
All employees of The Honolulu Advertiser, union and management, would take a 10 percent wage cut under a deal announced Friday.
For the highest paid members of the unions, the cuts will reduce their pay between $5,000 and $7,000 a year. The cuts would not reduce any worker’s pay below $11 an hour, according to the proposed deal.
The six unions of the Hawaii Newspaper and Printing Trades Council said that in agreeing to the wage cut for its members the Advertiser committed to opening its books to the unions twice a year to verify its financial condition and to confirm that non-union managers are also taking the pay cut.
Union members will vote on the contract Feb. 8. If approved, it would run until Dec. 31, 2010.
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For the highest paid members of the unions, the cuts will reduce their pay between $5,000 and $7,000 a year. The cuts would not reduce any worker’s pay below $11 an hour, according to the proposed deal.
The six unions of the Hawaii Newspaper and Printing Trades Council said that in agreeing to the wage cut for its members the Advertiser committed to opening its books to the unions twice a year to verify its financial condition and to confirm that non-union managers are also taking the pay cut.
Union members will vote on the contract Feb. 8. If approved, it would run until Dec. 31, 2010.
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Michigan Press Association says newspapers struggle, but readers still want their news
Advertising has declined not only for newspapers, by the way, but radio, television, magazines and even online.
But here is the good news that may surprise you.
Newspaper readership has held up, even though Michigan arguably has the worst economy in the nation.
In fact, Michigan newspaper readership is significantly higher than the national average, according to a study by the Princeton, N.J., firm, American Opinion Research. Conducted in December 2007, the Michigan Consumer Study was done for the MPA.
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But here is the good news that may surprise you.
Newspaper readership has held up, even though Michigan arguably has the worst economy in the nation.
In fact, Michigan newspaper readership is significantly higher than the national average, according to a study by the Princeton, N.J., firm, American Opinion Research. Conducted in December 2007, the Michigan Consumer Study was done for the MPA.
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Extra, Extra! Buyer Saves Connecticut Newspapers
Here's something you might not know: Tomorrow is Buy a Newspaper Day. OK, it's not Valentine's, or St. Paddy's, but the designation promotes something good.
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Dispatch from Colindale
In an anonymous pair of buildings on an anonymous street in an anonymous north London suburb there lurks one of the world’s greatest repositories of intellectual treasure.
One uses the words “intellectual” and “treasure” with some diffidence. For here, too, lie all the foulest aspects of humanity, as well as its occasional best. Here is all the vileness and degradation and vice and versa and worser. This is Colindale, home of the British Library’s newspaper section, traditionally the final resting place of the old newspapers of Britain and much of the world.
Except that the resting place is no longer final. Next year, the lease runs out on one of the library’s two buildings here. In 2012, Colindale will close completely, along with its 28 miles of shelving. Nearly 700,000 bound volumes of old papers and magazines, dating back to 1631, will be re-interred in the distant Yorkshire fastness of Boston Spa.
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One uses the words “intellectual” and “treasure” with some diffidence. For here, too, lie all the foulest aspects of humanity, as well as its occasional best. Here is all the vileness and degradation and vice and versa and worser. This is Colindale, home of the British Library’s newspaper section, traditionally the final resting place of the old newspapers of Britain and much of the world.
Except that the resting place is no longer final. Next year, the lease runs out on one of the library’s two buildings here. In 2012, Colindale will close completely, along with its 28 miles of shelving. Nearly 700,000 bound volumes of old papers and magazines, dating back to 1631, will be re-interred in the distant Yorkshire fastness of Boston Spa.
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Collapse of newspapers inspires little action or hope for change
Todd R. Brown writes:
Why are newspapers culturally important? Great question. I never liked the format, being a long-ago magazine publishing major. Still, I happened into newspaper reporting and earned an appreciation for the simple mission of educating readers about important ideas and events, from local government meetings to historic religious and ethnic conflicts.
How, or if, that mission will continue to be carried out in a shrunken media landscape is a big question mark.
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Why are newspapers culturally important? Great question. I never liked the format, being a long-ago magazine publishing major. Still, I happened into newspaper reporting and earned an appreciation for the simple mission of educating readers about important ideas and events, from local government meetings to historic religious and ethnic conflicts.
How, or if, that mission will continue to be carried out in a shrunken media landscape is a big question mark.
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What will become of The Record?
Morris Publishing Group, LLC announced this week that it hired Lazard Freres & Co. LLC as its financial advisor and Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, LLP as legal counsel.
The Jacksonville Business Journal is reporting that Morris Publishing Group LLC, the parent company of the Florida Times-Union and St. Augustine Record, has hired a financial adviser that specializes in helping newspaper chains in or near bankruptcy.
Lazard Freres also works for the Tribune Co. which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. Bankruptcy, reorganization and creditors’ rights are among the specialties listed on the Gerber & Eisenberg LLP web site.
William S. Morris III, Chairman of Morris Publishing, stated, “These firms will assist us in evaluating our strategic options regarding Morris Publishing’s existing capital structure.”
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The Jacksonville Business Journal is reporting that Morris Publishing Group LLC, the parent company of the Florida Times-Union and St. Augustine Record, has hired a financial adviser that specializes in helping newspaper chains in or near bankruptcy.
Lazard Freres also works for the Tribune Co. which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. Bankruptcy, reorganization and creditors’ rights are among the specialties listed on the Gerber & Eisenberg LLP web site.
William S. Morris III, Chairman of Morris Publishing, stated, “These firms will assist us in evaluating our strategic options regarding Morris Publishing’s existing capital structure.”
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News execs: Journalism students need skill variety
Publishers say journalism students who can work in multimedia formats and are versatile storytellers will be in the strongest position to start out in the changing newspaper industry.
Eighty-six Midwestern editors and publishers shared their views on journalism students' skills with The Associated Press in advanced of a job fair this weekend in Indiana.
The Columbus Dispatch's managing editor, Alan Miller, says the good news for college students is that they've grown up with types of technology they'll have to use.
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Eighty-six Midwestern editors and publishers shared their views on journalism students' skills with The Associated Press in advanced of a job fair this weekend in Indiana.
The Columbus Dispatch's managing editor, Alan Miller, says the good news for college students is that they've grown up with types of technology they'll have to use.
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All the news that's fit to fund
John Honderich writes:
Whither serious print journalism?
Five years ago, such a question might have intrigued only news junkies. Today it should concern us all.
That same five years ago, newspapers were still flourishing. While the Internet was making its mark, there was no talk of print Armageddon. Yet today the industry is in turmoil. Cutbacks and layoffs are the order of the day, and some are questioning whether newspapers will be around. Indeed, some aren't. Some are only online; others don't publish Mondays anymore.
While there is much talk of the decline of the newspaper industry, yet to occur in Canada is a serious dialogue on the effect of this decline on serious print journalism.
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Whither serious print journalism?
Five years ago, such a question might have intrigued only news junkies. Today it should concern us all.
That same five years ago, newspapers were still flourishing. While the Internet was making its mark, there was no talk of print Armageddon. Yet today the industry is in turmoil. Cutbacks and layoffs are the order of the day, and some are questioning whether newspapers will be around. Indeed, some aren't. Some are only online; others don't publish Mondays anymore.
While there is much talk of the decline of the newspaper industry, yet to occur in Canada is a serious dialogue on the effect of this decline on serious print journalism.
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