Posted on 03/13/2009 12:01:00 PM PDT by abb
It used to be that "stop the presses" meant changing a newspaper's front page because of big breaking news. Now, more and more, it means something else. Daily newspapers are folding or filing for bankruptcy in a number of big cities.
Hoping to avoid that, the Raleigh News and Observerand its parent company are about to make some very tough decisions.
The presses are still humming at the N&O. Readership is actually higher than its ever been, but the revenue stream is drying up. It started with the loss of classified advertising to the internet with sites like eBay and Craigslist. But that was just the start of it explained Managing Editor John Drescher.
"On top of that, you have a very severe and deep recession that's really hurting our advertising base, particularly among the automobile industry and residential real estate," he said.
To save money, he and publisher Orage Quarles will cut everyone's pay by up to 10 percent most likely. Others will lose their jobs altogether. How many and who Drescher's not saying.
"Nobody likes to take a pay cut or forced furlough. Most people think that's better than being laid off, of course. We've had to say goodbye to some really great colleagues in the past year. We're going to have to do it again. Nobody likes it. It's awful. It's bad for them. It's bad for everybody," he said.
McClatchy, the parent company, will have trimmed its workforce by a third when all the cuts are made, saving $300 million. Drescher says he doesn't think the N&O will fold like some daily newspapers have, but he says it will be different with more and more emphasis on its online edition. And, that may cost you in the future.
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(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
ping
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This one’s personal with me. I know some folks who will pee on their grave when they die.
Will the editorial writers that pilloried the Duke lacrosse team be the first out the door? Pretty please?
}:-)4
Oh, and they’re talking about charging for the content on their website to raise money? That’ll cut their own throat. Nothing in the N&O is worth paying an online fee for; there’s too many other news outlets where you can get the same things for free. With other newspapers around (like our fishwrap here in Durham, which is no better than the N&O in the bias department, maybe worse), three TV stations, Time Warner’s news operation, multiple talk radio stations...the N&O can’t expect people to pay for their content when there’s nothing special about it. If the New York Freakin’ Times couldn’t make it work, how does the N&O expect to do it?
}:-)4
Awwww...I just feel so sorry...
Sill (now with SacBee), Samiha, Ruth, BS Saunders, et al, chickens are roosting.
“How about a fish sandwich, a Yoo-hoo and a one-way Greyhound bus ticket?”
Payback is a bitch.
Hey! I’ve heard that before!
Hi! :-)
This is great news. I cancelled my N&O subscription after they printed an editorial cartoon depicting Bush and Cheney campaigning from the caboose of a train at Reagan’s funeral, never mind the fact that Bush was in South America at the time. It was an attempt to paint Bush with the Wellstone brush. A total lie. Not even close. Liars. I hope they burn in Hell.
Yeah, ok ... stand up Chuck! ... I cancelled this piece of liberal birdcage liner a few years ago and haven't looked back.
Oh! God love you!
Hi to you, too!
:)
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903130314
American unveils newsroom change
http://www.wweek.com/wwire/?p=23631
Well, That Sucked: WW To Cut Costs
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0309/WaPo_folding_biz_section_into_front.html?showall
WaPo folding biz section into front
http://www.observer.com/2009/media/2009-ag-arthur-gregg-sulzberger-era-begins
2009, A.G.: The Arthur Gregg Sulzberger Era Begins
Let go, N&O, let go. Feel the peace. Go to the light.
Anyone remember Nando.net? I used to read that every day.
How can they even think about charging for content when the Democrat Party puts out their talking points for free?
I used to read it often. IIRC, Melanie Sill, former executive editor at the NandO was in on its development. She’s now in charge at the Sac Bee. At least until it too turns into a pile of ashes...
This mess is still thrown in my driveway once a week, along with the extremely leftist Cary news...and I don’t even live in Cary. One can only say...buh bye!
hopefully the Charlotte Observer will fold right behind them....they’re another leftist rag from the McClatchney den of vipers....check out their chart:
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=mni&sid=0&o_symb=mni&x=47&y=20
Die, N&O, die!!
Die, N&O, die!!
Saunders losing his job alone makes this worth it.
Since I haven’t lived in Raleigh in years and only visit occasionally, I don’t see the N&O very often. When I was there around Christmas, I did see the various sycophantic full-color, front page pics of Obama.
Nothing more to see here. Die, N&O, die.
My mother gets the Thurs-Sun N&O delivered. Every week she complains about the liberal slant and asks why do I pay for this?
They have bitten the hands that feed them.
The N&O was acquired by the McClatchy Company several years ago. Then, just over two years ago, McClatchy bought the entire Knight-Ridder chain (including my hometown rag, the Charlotte Observer). Now, ponder a few numbers, and give me the prognosis for McClatchy's long-term survival:
1. McClatchy purchased the larger Knight-Ridder chain for about $4.5 billion in stock and debt.
2. McClatchy quickly spun off about half of the old Knight-Ridder papers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, leaving McClatchy about $2 billion in debt.
3. McClatchy's current market capitalization (the value of all stock issued) is about $45 million -- about 2% of the net purchase price of the Knight-Ridder chain. McClatchy's share price is off 99% since the acquisition. (Somewhere, Peter Ridder is smiling.)
For now, the [Raleigh] News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer have merged bureaus and share writers and columnists -- something not mentioned in the above article. It is another sign of desperation, as the former rivals (although they have long been on the same leftist page editorially) struggle to stay afloat.
“How sweet it is!!!!!”
Papers are dying right and left yet they refuse to change the model that got them where there are.
Quit sanitizing the news for liberals and just report the news. What do you have to lose?
Doesn’t matter now. It’s too late for most papers.
Shows how much of it is ideology.
And just up the road...
I don’t know how well the Durham Herald or Chapel Hill Herald are doing, but I am seeing some amazing things...
They are still liberal papers no doubt, but we’re starting to see some “other” opinions. The editor of the Chapel Hill Herald wrote a “pro-life” editorial just a few days ago. My jaw hit the floor... and I think he is still employed.
Combined with the on going tax revolt in Orange County we are certainly seeing interesting times.
If the GOP could get its head out of its rear, we could actually have some real change.
jw
Glorious news. Liberal bias is slowing being taken out of commission. Pretty soon the only liberals will be employed in goobermint.
They shrunk the only reason I pick up the paper when I’m at my parents house visiting, the funny papers, down to two pages, and put all the comics in much smaller sizes.
I haven’t paid for the Nuisance and Disturber for nearly 4 years, and I’m not sorry.
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