Posted on 05/04/2009 6:31:14 AM PDT by Zakeet
The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England's most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks.
After down-to-the-wire negotiations did not produce millions of dollars in union concessions, the Times Co. said that it will file today a required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law.
The move could amount to a negotiating ploy to extract further concessions from the Globe's unions, since the notice does not require the Times Co. to close the paper after 60 days. The deadline, however, would put the unions under fierce pressure to produce additional savings, and the Boston Newspaper Guild promptly called the step a "bullying" tactic by the company.
Some industry observers have expressed skepticism that Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. would want his legacy to include the shuttering of the Globe, which his company bought in 1993.
But the Times Co. itself is under strong financial pressure. It recently mortgaged its new Manhattan headquarters, borrowed $250 million from a Mexican billionaire at 14 percent interest, laid off 100 newsroom staffers and cut salaries by 5 percent.
Globe management said in a toughly worded statement: "Filing the WARN notice is a difficult step that we would like to avoid. But, unfortunately, given the state of the negotiations, it is one we must be prepared to take."
The paper's circulation dropped 14 percent in the most recent six-month period. The Globe is expected to lose $85 million this year, the company says.
Boston residents have long resented the takeover of the Globe by a company based in New York, with which the region competes in sports, banking and cultural bragging rights.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
John Kerry will never allow this to happen.
The more conservative Boston Herald survives. Makes sense.
Also wasn’t it a reporter from the Boston Globe, in Kerry’s own backyard, who was the only figure permitted access to Kerry’s military records after the 2004 election?
Unless, of course, Obama and his cronies step in and bail them out, like they did with GM. "Too (enter superlative here) to fail", and all that.
Good timing for Independence Day.
Does Boston and the Boston Pops still celebrate Independence day with the boats in the harbor and the Pops playing patriotic songs?
The spin will come fast and furious from both sides.
Competition from the Internet, shrinking ad revenues, blah blah blah.
In the end it comes down to this:
MANAGEMENT ATTEMPTED TO BREAK THE UNION
Union as in those ‘working families’ that Dems talk about like a kid talks about Christmas presents. Well, kids, you’ll find out about Christmas soon enough but the so-called supporters of ‘working families’ really don’t care about the work part or the family part for that matter. They want warm bodies to addict to government checks and to vote every so often.
The next time Herbert, Krugman, Rich or another pillow-biter moans about big bad corporations or the GOP all they have to do is look down the hallway for an example of the kind of ruthlessness they decry.
“The fact that the Globe basically ignored the Tea Party protests, including those in Boston, despite the fact that they were patterned on an event in Boston history tells you everything you need to know about why the Globe is failing.”
This is another good example of why the Globus Hystericus closing will be good for Boston, Mass. and America.
< Conservative newspapers, or even unbiased (or less biased) newspapers, don't alienate half of their potential customer base right out of the gate.
I think there used to be a newspaper by that name. I have not seen a copy in years. I wonder what happened to it. BTW, I think the Boston Globe was also a newspaper. Does anyone remember back when we had to wait for someone to print out a copy of what they thought was news-worthy and deliver the hardcopy to our houses? That was like when they delivered milk to our houses each morning.
One down... many more to go.
LLS
It's not like this news is a real tear jerker or anything. I'm not going to cry a river over it.
This is what happens when the press becomes a left wing propaganda medium. No one wants it anymore. There's enough left wing crap coming out of the TV already.
“The fact that the Globe basically ignored the Tea Party protests, including those in Boston, despite the fact that they were patterned on an event in Boston history tells you everything you need to know about why the Globe is failing.”
Exactly.
Thanks for the ping and helping to brighten my Monday morning...
Wonder how many reporters/photographers they sent to cover Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, TX?
The people who got their news from the Lefty Boston Globe will now get their news from the even more Lefty Bill Maher show on HBO, as well as Lefty internet sites.
Hee. The Times, which zealously supports the Employee Free Choice Act, is fiving Globe employees the free choice of which uneemplyment office to go to.
Keep in mind, the Globe may still continue if it can reach an agreement within the 60 days. SO the end is still not so near...
Bailout coming in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
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