Posted on 05/25/2021 7:10:56 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
In an interview last year, Mr. Freeman argued that the austere cuts enacted at his newspapers reflected a more realistic understanding of the industry’s direction and better positioned Alden-owned publishers for the pandemic’s downswing. “We were prepared for a real step down in terms of a recession because we were honest about what was needed in the future,” he said. “Numbers don’t lie.”
The newspaper industry’s numbers looked bleak even before the pandemic. Annual advertising revenue dropped 70%, or $34 billion, between 2005 and 2018, according to estimates by the Pew Research Center. More than 1,800 newspapers closed between 2004 and 2018, according to research by the University of North Carolina.
Between 2008 and 2019, the newspaper industry shed 51% of its newsroom jobs, ... Alden’s chain of papers cut staff by 76% at its 11 unionized papers between 2012 and last year
“That would be the industrial logic behind the deal,” ... “Alden’s strategy has always been to take the money out of these businesses.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Cantigny - The Museum of the 1st Inf. Division - it is in Wheaton, IL.
WaPo and NYTimes writers are amazingly adept at using weasel words in their articles so they are not sued for libel. They know that when other outlets refer to their article, the other outlets will not be so careful and then a total lie will be believed by most MSM-consuming people. It is very discouraging.
It’s also discouraging that many people think that a newspaper is a source. A person who participated in a conversation, invented something, attended a conference, etc., can be a source but not a newspaper.
You can get a 10” tablet for $100 these days that gets you access to the world. You can zoom in on text and photos.
No ink stains either.
You're right. Bezos's strategy in buying the WaPo was brilliant. He can disseminate propaganda but still have some plausible deniability. The paper I work for - up I-95 from the WaPo - gets most of its national and international news from the AP - hardly a paragon of objectivity. Local news is still covered by local reporters, but looking at the Twitter feeds of some of these "journalists" it's obvious they are less a "journalist" and more an activist.
"Discouraging" is an apt word. I find it discouraging that newspapers with a decidedly left-wing bent are seen as unimpeachable sources - gospel, in fact - but any source that counters that bent (Washington Times, Newsmax, OANN and the like) is dismissed as fringe or crackpot.
So much for a free press...
“When the sea clashes with the rocks, it is the clams that suffer.”
As a Tribune reader of over sixty years and over twenty years as a subscriber.
Then things started to change, Royko was fired(?) demoted(?) in the late 1990s and I dropped the subscription.
The only Trib employee that caused me any concern at that time was a young delivery girl who once personally handed me the paper in a deep snowstorm.
Part of my job description for many years was to tell people they were being laid off, a most distasteful event.
As soon as I knew, usually weeks ahead I would personally tell them what was coming. Surprises of this nature are disgusting.
To let go of a good employee was not as difficult for me as the marginal employee, The good ones will quickly find another position and usually send a note or call.
One that still bothered me after many years was kind of a legacy to me from a senior director I had known.
The director used this man as a permanent aid and he did it well, he was grossly overweight and perhaps mildly retarded. They were connected from their church and he sheltered him for many years.
One day out of the blue the director’s wife wanted a divorce, he was crushed and took a transfer to NJ.
I kept the big guy on as long as possible.
That was the worst of the worst.
You survived the Zell years and you will also survive this event.
Godspeed on your journey, you will do well.
I have never heard that quote. It is fitting.
In my twenty years of management, I have only have to inform one employee of their impending layoff. It was distasteful because he was a good employee. I was not allowed to lay off the individual of my choice as he had a "lifetime job." How quaint. Unfortunately, when layoffs have happened here, the affected parties get no advance warning - management fears sabotage.
Thanks for the encouraging words. God will provide.
Thank you for the reminder. Yes, Wheaton . . . well worth your time to visit if you are ever in the area!
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