DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,913
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Post by DFW HOYA on Feb 26, 2009 20:03:48 GMT -5
Cincinnati Post
New York Sun
Baltimore Examiner
And now RIP to the Rocky Mountain News, its last issue is Friday. We're fast approaching the tipping point where a major city in the US will not have a daily newspaper. So watch for any of the following to join the list in 2009:
Denver Post
Detroit News, Detroit Free Press (each moving to 3 issues a week next month)
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Newsday
Newark Star-Ledger
Philadelphia Daily News
San Francisco Chronicle (losing $1 million per week)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (may close as early as next month)
Seattle Times
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C86
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 238
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Post by C86 on Feb 26, 2009 20:58:26 GMT -5
I'd feel a lot worse about this, if the overall quality of the papers wasn't deteriorating. For example, the Chicago Tribune so severely cut its news content a few months ago that I cancelled a subscription I had maintained for 15 years. If the paper was going to stop reporting, there was no reason for me to support it.
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Bando
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
I've got some regrets!
Posts: 2,431
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Post by Bando on Feb 27, 2009 2:58:43 GMT -5
We're looking at a future where the only newspapers in America are the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and USA Today.
I still don't understand why newspapers cut local staff first. It's their only comparative advantage. If the paper Des Moines has only a local staff with national news, international news, opinion, and the arts syndicated, that's still not a half bad paper.
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Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
Posts: 10,355
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Post by Boz on Feb 27, 2009 9:52:17 GMT -5
Don't be so sure about The Washington Post. They are strugg-a-ling.
But they've got Kaplan to help keep them afloat, which is making more money for the company than the newspaper.
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HealyHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Victory!!!
Posts: 1,059
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Post by HealyHoya on Feb 27, 2009 12:44:20 GMT -5
Interesting point made this morning on Morning Joe by, I think, Mark Halperin. Essentially, while the cat is away the mouse will play.
The argument is that the local reporters (town hall, police/fire beat, etc.) are really the best check on fraud/malfeasance by local elected officials. Without the local reporter pouring over city records or investigating the often arcane minutia (sp) that governs local spending/contract awarding, the incidence of local government mismanagement will increase.
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EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
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Post by EasyEd on Feb 27, 2009 12:56:54 GMT -5
Don't be so sure about The Washington Post. They are strugg-a-ling. But they've got Kaplan to help keep them afloat, which is making more money for the company than the newspaper. I think we should bailout the Washington Post and impose the fairness doctrine on them. |
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Bando
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
I've got some regrets!
Posts: 2,431
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Post by Bando on Feb 27, 2009 14:32:00 GMT -5
Don't be so sure about The Washington Post. They are strugg-a-ling. But they've got Kaplan to help keep them afloat, which is making more money for the company than the newspaper. I think we should bailout the Washington Post and impose the fairness doctrine on them. Have you read the Post's op-ed section lately? Will, Kristol, Gerson, Krauthammer: commie pinkos all! |
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EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
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Post by EasyEd on Feb 27, 2009 14:51:32 GMT -5
I think we should bailout the Washington Post and impose the fairness doctrine on them. Have you read the Post's op-ed section lately? Will, Kristol, Gerson, Krauthammer: commie pinkos all! On the contrary, have you read the editorials lately? That's the Post's positions not columnists. Or have you read the first page? Or have you seen the daily photos of Michele Obama? |
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vcjack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,875
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Post by vcjack on Feb 27, 2009 15:12:44 GMT -5
Interesting point made this morning on Morning Joe by, I think, Mark Halperin. Essentially, while the cat is away the mouse will play. The argument is that the local reporters (town hall, police/fire beat, etc.) are really the best check on fraud/malfeasance by local elected officials. Without the local reporter pouring over city records or investigating the often arcane minutia (sp) that governs local spending/contract awarding, the incidence of local government mismanagement will increase. The internet has proved to be pretty good at uncovering scandal. |
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Post by Coast2CoastHoya on Feb 27, 2009 15:13:50 GMT -5
I used to read the Rocky Mtn News almost every day when I lived in Denver. R.I.P. RMN. It's never good to the loss of an editorial department such that news readers in a metro area only have one option.
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EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
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Post by EasyEd on Feb 27, 2009 20:14:38 GMT -5
Think the Hoya will survive?
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DanMcQ
Moderator 
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Post by DanMcQ on Mar 16, 2009 21:06:20 GMT -5
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DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,913
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Post by DFW HOYA on Apr 4, 2009 8:16:44 GMT -5
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EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
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Post by EasyEd on Apr 4, 2009 9:58:50 GMT -5
Let's face it, the printed newspaper is a relic and will disappear completely in the future. The internet, TV, radio and whatever emerges in the future are already replacing it.
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rosslynhoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,595
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Post by rosslynhoya on Apr 4, 2009 11:03:51 GMT -5
"The New York Times Co. has threatened to shut the Boston Globe unless the newspaper's unions swiftly agree to $20 million in concessions." Wow  Here I thought ownership/management was always to blame and the poor union members just can't ever be expected to make more concessions than they already have. I guess this proves once and for all that the news coverage at the Times really is independent from their editorial page and the billionaire who owns them. |
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TC
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 9,480
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Post by TC on Apr 4, 2009 11:32:46 GMT -5
Let's face it, the printed newspaper is a relic and will disappear completely in the future. The internet, TV, radio and whatever emerges in the future are already replacing it. Radio is deader than a doornail. All of the major companies are flipping stations over to robo-stations. |
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Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by Boz on Apr 4, 2009 12:35:57 GMT -5
Talk radio is still doing pretty well, I'm fairly sure.
Music radio (non-XM/Sirius that is) is definitely deader than a doornail.
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EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
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Post by EasyEd on Apr 4, 2009 13:18:52 GMT -5
Talk radio and music radio are free.
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C86
Century (over 100 posts)
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Post by C86 on Apr 4, 2009 22:32:35 GMT -5
Ed, I'm not so sure about radio and TV. Tribune Company is in bankruptcy, and along with their papers, they own a bunch of TV and radio stations. The influence of the network TV evening news on public opinion is waning every year.
My understanding is that part of the problems the papers face is that they used to make a fortune on classified ads. That advertising has moved to the Internet, and is never coming. back.
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DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,913
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Post by DFW HOYA on Apr 4, 2009 23:08:00 GMT -5
Classified ads were the icing on a revenue cake that served the newspaper industry well.
Industyy execs are quick to wag their collective fingers at the Internet and blame it for their malaise. "If only we charged subscriptions online," they mutter. The real enemy is not the Web, it's the multitude of information choices now available.
Way back in the day, your family probably got an afternoon paper like the Washington Star, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, or Chicago Daily News to see what's happening in the world that didn't make the Walter Cronkite or Huntley-Brinkley news (no 24 hour news cycle), to check the out of town baseball scores (pre-ESPN) and maybe to check the classified ads (obviously, no Ebay or Craigslist). The old slogan for the afternoon paper in Philly was "In Philadelphia, nearly everybody reads The Bulletin." They did--it once had a daily circulation of over 750,000.
The current circulation of the Philadelphia Inquirer? 300,000 in a city of 1.4 million. The Phialdelphia Daily News? 97,000.
People have got a lot of choices now--cable TV, satellite radio, the Internet, text alerts, iPhones and Blackberries. Outside of coupons and obituaries, there's not much in a daily newspaper that isn't available somewhere else on a moment's notice.
Finally, newspapers didn't impart their value to the next generation. Read any article about declining or dying papers and the ones who most lament its passing are in their 60's and 70's. Conversely, there was once a time when a newspaper subscription was one of the first thing a young family did when they moved to town. How many people under 30 subscribe to a paper today? Do any of you?
If this could happen to the Globe, could it happen to the Times itself someday? A year ago, I would have said no. Not anymore.
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Here I thought ownership/management was always to blame and the poor union members just can't ever be expected to make more concessions than they already have. I guess this proves once and for all that the news coverage at the Times really is independent from their editorial page and the billionaire who owns them.