Newhouse News Service to close after the election (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Poynter Online ^ | July 29, 2008 | Staff

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"The decision to close followed the direction of our clients, the editors of our papers," says Linda Fibich, editor and Washington bureau chief. "They felt they could not afford to pay for a central Washington bureau at a time when they were steering all available resources to local coverage back at home." The service was founded in 1961.

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This just in...

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ping

[Vermont Lt]

But you wont read it in my local paper until tomorrow.

Kind of funny.

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http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/07/28/news/01ut072808.txt
Who’s Going to Buy the U-T?

http://voiceofsandiego.com/articles/2008/07/28/this_just_in/853utsale072808.txt
Assessing the Suitors

http://www.suntimes.com/business/feder/1079043,CST-FIN-feder29.article
Trib layoffs hit WGN

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http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/07/29/oprah-vogue-among-major-newsstand-losers
‘Oprah,’ ‘Vogue’ Among Major Newsstand Losers

[MovementConservative]

Have we ever heard of Newhouse News Service? AP, NY Times, Reuters, for sure. Can’t recall a Newhouse tagline before.

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http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=87486
Journal Register Risks Default, A.H. Belo Makes Big Cuts

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fe3188a8-5bff-11dd-9e99-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
Advertising slowdown weighs on media groups

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/28/aol-realizes-bloggers-will-work-for-free-stops-paying-them/
AOL Realizes Bloggers Will Work For Free; Stops Paying Them

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/59698
NFL games to debut on Web in U.S.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121728200712190979.html
Looking for a Job? Try Craigslist

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http://www.newhouse.com/

[Incorrigible]

Wow! There goes 90% of my new threads!

Bummer. They grabed some of the good articles from their member papers and made them available without the conditions.

This is an unfortunate media death.

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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003832579
ABC to Allow Mid-Sized Papers to Skip Annual Audits

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003832592
Journal Register Co. Gets Break On Debt as S&P Cuts Rating to Lowest Possible

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003832704
Goldman Sachs Rates A.H. Belo ‘Sell’ on Negative Revenue Comps for Next Few Years

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6581926.html?desc=topstory
DirecTV’s New Role: Show Saver
Like Friday Night Lights deal, satellite-TV operator will lend a hand.

[MovementConservative]

So it’s an aggregate of 26 newspapers pooling their stories. Big deal. No wonder they are going out of business.

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[weegee]

Why stay in business “until the election”?

Are they putting politics above profit?

[LonePalm]

The Obama Campaign only pays them until the election.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Milhous]

"I see no downside for either the NFL or NBC," said Neal Pilson, a former president of CBS Sports who now runs a consulting firm. "The important thing now is the survival of the network, and extensive webcasting is one of the keys to that survival."

As a member in good standing of The People Formerly Known as the Audience allow me to declare my preference for a infinitely superior network named Internet. Continuing on to the next excerpt from the rant on Rosen's site.

The people formerly known as the audience would like to say a special word to those working in the media who, in the intensity of their commercial vision, had taken to calling us “eyeballs,” as in: “There is always a new challenge coming along for the eyeballs of our customers.” (John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners in the U.S.)

Or: “We already own the eyeballs on the television screen. We want to make sure we own the eyeballs on the computer screen.” (Ann Kirschner, vice president for programming and media development for the National Football League.)

Fithian, Kirschner and company should know that such fantastic delusions (“we own the eyeballs…”) were the historical products of a media system that gave its operators an exaggerated sense of their own power and mastery over others. New media is undoing all that, which makes us smile.

You don't own the eyeballs. You don't own the press, which is now divided into pro and amateur zones. You don't control production on the new platform, which isn't one-way. There's a new balance of power between you and us.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Competition for solid news coverage just went down a notch.

The whole “information-just-wants-to-be-free” thing has some negative unintended consequences.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Emerging confrontation with ‘citizen journalists’
http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/11834

[Milhous]

Paraphrasing Bill Buckley - I would rather live in a society governed by the first 2,000 amateurs in a blogroll than in one governed by 2,000 members of the Alumni Association of the Columbia School of Journalism.

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I try not to even use the term “news” anymore. I use the term “distribution of information.” “News” as it was defined only had the characteristics of freshness and originality because the operators of the distribution systems (paper, broadcast) controlled when, how and where the information was distributed. They created the scarcity that made it valuable.

They no longer have that control.

[Milhous]

"distribution of information."

A euphemism for shout outs to a socialist herd caused by mass media's Tourette syndrome. IMHO.