This blog is mainly about the spectacular train wreck at The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, the McClatchy Company. But I also post about current events, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, politics, anything else that grabs my attention. Take a look around this blog, hope you enjoy it.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday May 4 -- Got news or an update?
If you have news or an update, leave it in comments. . . .
12 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Lest you think Barry Soetoro is not the president of the USA, try this link: http://www.barrysoetoro.com/
-The Morning Call, facing declining revenue, to cut more than 70 positions-
The Morning Call (Allentown) May 1, 2009 The Morning Call today announced plans to eliminate more than 70 positions as it continues to grapple with declining revenue afflicting the newspaper industry.
About 50 people will be affected as a result of the cost-cutting, while other positions were already vacant, publisher Tim Kennedy said in an e-mail to employees. Those affected will be contacted by the end of tomorrow, he said.
Note Publisher, Bill Flippin, now that is hilarious. -------- Reading Eagle reduces work force Reading Eagle
Reading Eagle Company Thursday announced the termination of employment of 52 workers. That figure represents about 12 percent of its work force, according to a statement released by William S. Flippin, publisher of the Reading Eagle.
The move was a necessary step to cope with the economy and the troubles the newspaper industry specifically is facing in 2009, Flippin said in a brief statement.
Reading Eagle Company is a private and family-owned business..
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE, ELITIST’S, EXPECT LIFETIME JOB GUARANTEES, WHO KNEW
(Boston) Globe mailers union yields on lifetime job guarantees
Boston Globe unions’ resolve to protect lifetime job guarantees began to crumble this morning as the mailers union agreed to modify the perk under threat of a shutdown of the paper.
“We want to keep the newspaper open and we believe the New York Times [NYT] threat, that if we didn’t come to some sort of agreement, that we would close,” said Mary White, president of Teamsters Local 1 which represents the mailers.
The breakthrough development came at about 3:30 a.m. during marathon talks and left just two major unions - the Boston Newspaper Guild and the pressmen - clinging to the lifetime job guarantees.
The mailers union, which had to come up with $5 million in concessions, has 245 members and 145 of them have lifetime job guarantees which would protect them from layoffs. Still, White said that under the current proposal, her members “could be vulnerable to layoffs.”
The cuts include benefit and salary reductions and “some modifications to the job security language,” White said, adding that sacrificing the lifetime job guarantees was more important to management than the $5 million. White said the union didn’t give up seniority rights, however.
The talks turned ugly just before midnight when the Globe told union members to cough up final financial and contract concessions or face a shutdown of the paper in 60 days - a tactic the Guild, the paper’s largest union, slammed as “bullying.”
Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post is covering the apparent demise of another ancient American newspaper; the Boston Globe.
Yes, it was a liberal rag - a laughably small minded, mini-me imitation of its parent, the New York Times.
But if one believes that a city's newspapers are more than mouthpieces for one political party or another, that covering art, culture, sports, fashion, and local business is an important task beyond politics that helps unite and define a metro area - then we may be suitably chastened by the demise even of a paper that thought John Kerry was the bees knees.
Kurtz reports on the resentment felt by many Bostonians toward Pinch Sulzberger and the New York Times:
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.
The notion that Boston, home to some of the country's top universities, could lose its major daily would have been unthinkable before the recent nationwide plunge in advertising revenue.
That dive has triggered a wave of newspaper bankruptcies and the closing of the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Barnicle Blasts NY Times: ‘Most Hypocritical Media Company In The World’
German linguists might have to add a couple syllables to “schadenfreude” to capture the sentiments of those observing the NY Times/Boston Globe death match.
People aren’t just revelling in the papers’ misfortune anymore. They can now simultaneously delight in the Times’ hypocrisy.
On today’s Morning Joe, Mike Barnicle blasted the NY Times as the “most hypocritical media company in the world” for what he sees as the Gray Lady’s bullying of the employees at its subsidiary, the Boston Globe.
..All of them fighting to get into a lifeboat with a hole in it. None of them willing to provide their ( now former ) customers with what they really wanted : Fresh facts of what's new today. ...It is well that newspaper business failure is so terrible lest we should grow too fond of it.
“Tim Kennedy said in an [e-mail to employees.] Those affected will be [contacted by the end of tomorrow]” **** Just another one of those, ‘You’re fired, but thanks for your loyalty’ bullshit e-mails, but it must have been a horrible time until ‘Those affected’ were “contacted by the end of tomorrow.” This is like a form of torture, worse than waterboarding, IMO.
"Does the Pulitzer give prizes for works of fiction?" *** -Rumsfeld aides trash NYT's Pulitzer for "Pentagon's Hidden Hand"-
USNews.com Two allies of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are leading the charge against Times reporter David Barstow, reports Paul Bedard. Former Pentagon Assistant Secretary Dorrance Smith says: ["Does the Pulitzer give prizes for works of fiction? Perhaps they just got the wrong category."]
-Comments are a tricky proposition for newspapers- San Francisco Chronicle Online discussions often devolve into personal heated battles that have to be closely monitored by newspaper [staffes.] At the same time, comments keep readers on the websites longer and create engaged communities. -------- “He said comments can boost page views by 5 to 15 percent and can serve as a starting point for social-media interaction on a news site.” Some hatefulness is a good thing, or so it seems. [staffes?]
Profit Plunged 88%! Numbers to scare the beejeebers out of Scripps. --------------- @ E & P -Q1 Newspaper Profit Plunged 88% at E.W. Scripps- E.W. Scripps newspaper segment profit plunged 88% in Q1 to $2.9 million on a severe downturn in advertising revenue, the Cincinnati-based company reported this morning. - May 04, 2009
VANCOUVER, Wash. -- The company that publishes The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Wash., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to resolve credit issues involving a building project.
The Columbian Publishing Co. made the filing Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tacoma.
The Columbian reports the case involves credit issues with Bank of America, the primary lender on a $40 million building project Columbian Publishing completed last year in downtown Vancouver.
Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell said operations will not be affected and he predicted the company will emerge in a few months "with renewed vigor."
Campbell said the economy's recent severe downtown contributed to the need to make the bankruptcy filing. It shows The Columbian owes approximately $17 million to the Bank of America and a variety of unsecured creditors.
Columbian Publishing is a family-owned company with 259 employees that operates The Columbian newspaper and the Web site www.columbian.com. The newspaper serves Clark County and other parts of southwest Washington.
12 comments:
Lest you think Barry Soetoro is not the president of the USA, try this link:
http://www.barrysoetoro.com/
-The Morning Call, facing declining revenue, to cut more than 70 positions-
The Morning Call (Allentown)
May 1, 2009
The Morning Call today announced plans to eliminate more than 70 positions as it continues to grapple with declining revenue afflicting the newspaper industry.
About 50 people will be affected as a result of the cost-cutting, while other positions were already vacant, publisher Tim Kennedy said in an e-mail to employees. Those affected will be contacted by the end of tomorrow, he said.
Note Publisher, Bill Flippin, now that is hilarious.
--------
Reading Eagle reduces work force
Reading Eagle
Reading Eagle Company Thursday announced the termination of employment of 52 workers. That figure represents about 12 percent of its work force, according to a statement released by William S. Flippin, publisher of the Reading Eagle.
The move was a necessary step to cope with the economy and the troubles the newspaper industry specifically is facing in 2009, Flippin said in a brief statement.
Reading Eagle Company is a private and family-owned business..
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE, ELITIST’S, EXPECT LIFETIME JOB GUARANTEES, WHO KNEW
(Boston) Globe mailers union yields on lifetime job guarantees
Boston Globe unions’ resolve to protect lifetime job guarantees began to crumble this morning as the mailers union agreed to modify the perk under threat of a shutdown of the paper.
“We want to keep the newspaper open and we believe the New York Times [NYT] threat, that if we didn’t come to some sort of agreement, that we would close,” said Mary White, president of Teamsters Local 1 which represents the mailers.
The breakthrough development came at about 3:30 a.m. during marathon talks and left just two major unions - the Boston Newspaper Guild and the pressmen - clinging to the lifetime job guarantees.
The mailers union, which had to come up with $5 million in concessions, has 245 members and 145 of them have lifetime job guarantees which would protect them from layoffs. Still, White said that under the current proposal, her members “could be vulnerable to layoffs.”
The cuts include benefit and salary reductions and “some modifications to the job security language,” White said, adding that sacrificing the lifetime job guarantees was more important to management than the $5 million. White said the union didn’t give up seniority rights, however.
The talks turned ugly just before midnight when the Globe told union members to cough up final financial and contract concessions or face a shutdown of the paper in 60 days - a tactic the Guild, the paper’s largest union, slammed as “bullying.”
The Boston Globe: Thanks for the memories, Pinch
Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post is covering the apparent demise of another ancient American newspaper; the Boston Globe.
Yes, it was a liberal rag - a laughably small minded, mini-me imitation of its parent, the New York Times.
But if one believes that a city's newspapers are more than mouthpieces for one political party or another, that covering art, culture, sports, fashion, and local business is an important task beyond politics that helps unite and define a metro area - then we may be suitably chastened by the demise even of a paper that thought John Kerry was the bees knees.
Kurtz reports on the resentment felt by many Bostonians toward Pinch Sulzberger and the New York Times:
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.
The notion that Boston, home to some of the country's top universities, could lose its major daily would have been unthinkable before the recent nationwide plunge in advertising revenue.
That dive has triggered a wave of newspaper bankruptcies and the closing of the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Barnicle Blasts NY Times: ‘Most Hypocritical Media Company In The World’
German linguists might have to add a couple syllables to “schadenfreude” to capture the sentiments of those observing the NY Times/Boston Globe death match.
People aren’t just revelling in the papers’ misfortune anymore. They can now simultaneously delight in the Times’ hypocrisy.
On today’s Morning Joe, Mike Barnicle blasted the NY Times as the “most hypocritical media company in the world” for what he sees as the Gray Lady’s bullying of the employees at its subsidiary, the Boston Globe.
..All of them fighting to get into a lifeboat with a hole in it. None of them willing to provide their ( now former ) customers with what they really wanted : Fresh facts of what's new today.
...It is well that newspaper business failure is so terrible lest we should grow too fond of it.
“Tim Kennedy said in an [e-mail to employees.] Those affected will be [contacted by the end of tomorrow]”
****
Just another one of those, ‘You’re fired, but thanks for your loyalty’ bullshit e-mails, but it must have been a horrible time until ‘Those affected’ were “contacted by the end of tomorrow.” This is like a form of torture, worse than waterboarding, IMO.
"Does the Pulitzer give prizes for works of fiction?"
***
-Rumsfeld aides trash NYT's Pulitzer for "Pentagon's Hidden Hand"-
USNews.com
Two allies of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are leading the charge against Times reporter David Barstow, reports Paul Bedard. Former Pentagon Assistant Secretary Dorrance Smith says: ["Does the Pulitzer give prizes for works of fiction? Perhaps they just got the wrong category."]
@ Poynter Online - Romenesko
-Comments are a tricky proposition for newspapers-
San Francisco Chronicle
Online discussions often devolve into personal heated battles that have to be closely monitored by newspaper [staffes.] At the same time, comments keep readers on the websites longer and create engaged communities.
--------
“He said comments can boost page views by 5 to 15 percent and can serve as a starting point for social-media interaction on a news site.” Some hatefulness is a good thing, or so it seems. [staffes?]
Profit Plunged 88%! Numbers to scare the beejeebers out of Scripps.
---------------
@ E & P
-Q1 Newspaper Profit Plunged 88% at E.W. Scripps-
E.W. Scripps newspaper segment profit plunged 88% in Q1 to $2.9 million on a severe downturn in advertising revenue, the Cincinnati-based company reported this morning. -
May 04, 2009
Columbian newspaper seeks bankruptcy protection
11:21 AM PDT on Saturday, May 2, 2009
By Associated Press
VANCOUVER, Wash. -- The company that publishes The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Wash., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to resolve credit issues involving a building project.
The Columbian Publishing Co. made the filing Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tacoma.
The Columbian reports the case involves credit issues with Bank of America, the primary lender on a $40 million building project Columbian Publishing completed last year in downtown Vancouver.
Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell said operations will not be affected and he predicted the company will emerge in a few months "with renewed vigor."
Campbell said the economy's recent severe downtown contributed to the need to make the bankruptcy filing. It shows The Columbian owes approximately $17 million to the Bank of America and a variety of unsecured creditors.
Columbian Publishing is a family-owned company with 259 employees that operates The Columbian newspaper and the Web site www.columbian.com. The newspaper serves Clark County and other parts of southwest Washington.
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