Posted on 12/20/2005 8:04:18 AM PST by LdSentinal
NEW YORK In the most recent bout of MoveOn.org actions against Tribune Company job cuts, the progressive advocacy group solicited petition signatures from community members in Baltimore and Allentown, where two Tribune Co. newspapers have significantly reduced staffs.
MoveOn organizers have gathered about 4,000 signatures from Baltimore residents and 1,200 in Allentown, online and during the Dec. 16 drive, asking the Baltimore Sun and Allentown Morning Call not to cut jobs at the papers. The Morning Call eliminated 50 positions in November and bought out an unspecified number of senior employees. The Sun lost about 70 jobs this year through buyouts.
"Part of the reason we're doing these drives is there are lots of people out there, who we met on Friday, who don’t have e-mail addresses but who care deeply about local news," said MoveOn organizer Adam Green. After attending the Baltimore petition push, Green said many readers admitted an underlying frustration with ever-shrinking local coverage but hadn't drawn the connection to newsroom cuts.
Organizers of these actions say the Tribune Co. is decreasing its newspapers' ability to serve the public need for "watchdog" journalism by reducing budgets, which has precipitated the loss of about 800 positions across the company. MoveOn points out that these budget constraints were imposed despite a September Tribune Co. report that its year-over-year profit increased $93 million, or 19%, in 2005.
"In the big picture, we want to create an environment where media corporations can no longer ignore the public's desire for strong watchdog journalism," Green said. "In this particular case, we aim to pressure the Tribune Company to reverse the recent cuts to quality journalism they forced on local papers around the country."
The MoveOn protests began Dec. 1 with e-mail letters sent to MoveOn members potentially affected by cuts at four Tribune Co. papers: The Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, and Chicago Tribune. Online petitions for the papers have since registered more than 23,000 in Los Angeles, 9,100 in Chicago, 3,700 in Baltimore, and 2,700 in Orlando.
With the recent addition of online petitions for the Morning Call, Hartford Courant, Newport News Daily Press, and New York's Newsday, plus the "person-to-person" petitions in Baltimore and Allentown, MoveOn has gathered more than 59,000 total signatures. It plans to implement local petitions at all eight affected communities beginning next week.
Members of MoveOn also tried to deliver 45,000 petition signatures to Tribune Co. CEO Dennis FitzSimons at Credit Suisse First Boston's annual Global Media Conference in New York Dec. 7. The organizers were turned away and FitzSimons declined to respond to questions from a MoveOn.org member inside the conference, but the Tribune Co. has maintained in written statements that it still is deeply invested in strong news coverage and committed "to serve our communities exceptionally well."
The various efforts aimed at Tribune Co. are part of a new project within MoveOn Civil Action, MoveOn Media Action. The media project was formed in September in response to ongoing concerns from members about the devaluation of "strong watchdog journalism." The project will support government policies, like the Truth In Broadcasting Act, which they helped get a Senate floor vote earlier this year. It will also draw public attention to troubling journalistic practices, as it did with complaints to NBC when Pete Williams covered the Scooter Libby indictment with no mention that he previously had served as then-Congressman Dick Cheney’s press secretary.
Stupidity in action.
This is good news. Instead of focusing on voter ID and voter registration, MoveOn.org is engaging in labor advocacy. Keep 'em distracted!
If Moveon wants to save these jobs they can start by making Doros-like donations to Tribune. If spending Tens of millions of dollars to (unsuccessfully) unseat Bush is all and well they can at least do more than "sign a petition."
But they aren't really about helping people...
Oh, right...Leftists are only generous with other people's money.
Short version: Moonbats rally to prop up Ministry of Propaganda.
Good luck with that. I'll be reading the blogosphere.
You're much too kind. They're really stupidity incarnate.
Hmmmm....now why would MoveOn.org think it has a dog in this fight?
So, reading between the lines (pardon the pun), MorOn thinks it can prop up their watchdog journalists propagandists by submitting petitions to them? H'yuck! Did it ever occur to MorOn that going door-to-door soliciting subscriptions to increase circulation and revenue might save jobs? Of course not--that's capitalism and that's bad. What's their next great idea--tax subsidies for these dying dinosaur newspapers?
Lets not forget MoveOn's corruption: the group was formed during the Clinton Impeachment. They insisted that Congress censure Clinton and "move on", but never mentioned that congressional Dems were free to censure Clinton at any time, without cooperation from the GOP. It was merely a ruse - censure instead of impeachment, meant to be followed up with harsh words instead of censure once impeachment was off the table.
These guys have zero integrity.
I know they're cute, but are kindergarteners allowed to participate in political activism?
Shouldn't they be in school?
I hate it when that happens.
So why don't they go after the NY Times and Boston Globe? I'll tell you why, because the Trib is traditionally more conservative.
These people are just idiots, they don't care about local news or else they'd be fighting Gannett.
Why hasn't someone told them this?
...DUH!!!
This is great.........MoveON.orgasm should be a watch dog group, making sure that the MSM keeps full workforce as their marketshare continues to tank and their profitability is in the toilet. Great Idea!! Socialism in Action!!
If this was a hundred years ago, MorOn would be demanding we keep the employees of buggy-whip factories in jobs as well. . .
Hey MorOns: Wake up and smell the 21st Century !!!
True liberal approach. They could just buy lots of Trib papers, but instead they sign petitions. They want the Trib stockholders to pay for their ideology.
How about creating a permanent "button" on the top of the Forum labelled "FRSURV" for "Free Republic Survivial"? The thread would be devoted to defeating McCain/Feingiold-related attempts to shut down FR.
I realize buttons are probably usually based on reader interest, and practically no one cares about this issue. But in the name of survival, FR can make an exception and blatantly promote an issue this once.
move-bowels.org should just declare the Tribune a people's newspaper and everyone could have a job.Then evedryone could have a wonderful secular winter holiday.
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