Pulling the plug on 139 years

[Beertigger]

The gig is just about up - my newspaper, the oldest continuously published news outlet in Arizona, will stop the press on March 21.

Tucson Citizen to cease publication March 21 if no buyer found



Technically, the giant multi-national Gannett chain has put it up for sale - or at least "certain assests" of the paper.

Informed scuttlebut says they want to shut it down, to legally open the way to pick up the other local daily, which is published by the even-worse-off Lee Enterprises.

Lee's about to be delisted from the NYSE, and they owe a billion dollars on their recent purchase of the Pulitzer chain. That's money they don't have. Last time I checked, the market cap on the entire company was $16 million.

Gannett claims to be hurting, but they still rake in money hand over fist - even as they're laying off thousands of staffers in the U.S. and in Britain.

So, because of corporate shenanigans, some 68 great journalists will be shunted aside, along with nearly a century and a half legacy of great reporting - writing, photography, editing, design, and lately video and other Internet multimedia.

I'm proud to have worked there - this has been the absolute best job I've ever had! The passion, ethics and dedication of my colleagues have been a constant inspiration.



After having a few pops of Powers last night, I'm assessing my personal way forward.

[Cerebite]

A similar fate is looming for the Rocky Mountain New which is getting set to celebrate 150 years of publishing this spring and may not make it. And if I recall correctly one of the grand old New York papers and one of the ones in the North West are facing similar fates this spring.

The scoop on the street is that newspapers as an industry have lost revenue by having the classifieds usurped by EBay and Craigs List and content/ timeliness to the internet.

For my part I still ready a daily paper everyday.

[BassClefB]

Technically, the giant multi-national Gannett chain has put it up for sale - or at least "certain assests" of the paper.

Informed scuttlebut says they want to shut it down, to legally open the way to pick up the other local daily, which is published by the even-worse-off Lee Enterprises.

Lee's about to be delisted from the NYSE, and they owe a billion dollars on their recent purchase of the Pulitzer chain. That's money they don't have. Last time I checked, the market cap on the entire company was $16 million.

Gannett claims to be hurting, but they still rake in money hand over fist - even as they're laying off thousands of staffers in the U.S. and in Britain.

So, because of corporate shenanigans, some 68 great journalists will be shunted aside, along with nearly a century and a half legacy of great reporting - writing, photography, editing, design, and lately video and other Internet multimedia.

I'm proud to have worked there - this has been the absolute best job I've ever had! The passion, ethics and dedication of my colleagues have been a constant inspiration.



After having a few pops of Powers last night, I'm assessing my personal way forward.

So sorry to hear you're a victim of Gannett's horrible corporate practices on the other side of the states. Our local paper, the Asheville Citizen-Times, has undergone huge upheavals in staffing and production. The paper was produced locally for over 50 years at a printing press just down the road. They closed the press recently, outsourcing production to the Greenville, SC facility. In addition, countless editors, writers, and production staff have been laid off or forcibly removed, and existing staff are being told they have to take a mandatory week off with no pay sometime soon. If you're interested, the scuttlebutt is all over this local blog...


http://ashvegas.squarespace.com/journal/

Might be some similarities there between their situations and yours. Just as a side note, I do not work for the paper or for Gannett, but I was in printing/advertising with a local real estate magazine until December when I got laid off. I have a huge interest in the print industry in general as my career, so I have been following it closely.

Best of luck... As it was so famously written long ago, 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...'

[Kilted_John]

The Seattle P-I is doing the same. About 51 days left for that paper, if no buyer's found.

-J

[LadyGriffin]

Minneapolis StarTribune just filed last week.
*sigh*

[Beertigger]

The scoop on the street is that newspapers as an industry have lost revenue by having the classifieds usurped by EBay and Craigs List and content/ timeliness to the internet.

Short-sightedness led to that loss, nothing inherent. If newspapers had moved more quickly to challenge craigslist, etc, they'd have been fine.

But they put their heads in the sand.

As to content and timeliness, most of the content on the Internet originates with a newspaper reporter.

Again, newspapers dropped the ball on allowing readers to participate and comment in the way they've become accustomed to online.

I still think it's possible to do it right. But it ain't how Gannett's going about it, as far as I can see.

[Carolina Kiltman]

This has been in the works for a long time, I am sorry to say.

If I live another 20-25 years, I will be surprised if there are any real print newspapers left. I also expect to see all "news" disappear, whatever the media.

Newsgathering, like customer service, is expensive, and the bean counters don't like that. For example, one of the local TV stations spends nearly 15 minutes of every newscast gossiping about some celebrity or sports figure (s).

Real news is all but gone.

That worries me as how are we to have informed citizens without news?

[Beertigger]

I don't think it'll disappear - it's an essential function of a democracy, and one that its practitioners are passionate about.

I think we'll see more family/privately owned news operations, much like newspapers used to be.

The pressures of the Internet, etc, will keep such operations from becoming as parochial as they may have been "back in the day," but only a dedicated owner will spend the money on gathering real news.

Shareholders want returns; they don't care if you're doing a good job. News operations don't function well as publicly owned corps. Witness the current mess - rather than investing in new media, the big chains are cutting.

Private concerns can accept smaller returns, secure in the knowledge that people will always need real news.

This has been in the works for a long time, I am sorry to say.

If I live another 20-25 years, I will be surprised if there are any real print newspapers left. I also expect to see all "news" disappear, whatever the media.

Newsgathering, like customer service, is expensive, and the bean counters don't like that. For example, one of the local TV stations spends nearly 15 minutes of every newscast gossiping about some celebrity or sports figure (s).

Real news is all but gone.

That worries me as how are we to have informed citizens without news?

[Downix]

I don't think it'll disappear - it's an essential function of a democracy, and one that its practitioners are passionate about.

I think we'll see more family/privately owned news operations, much like newspapers used to be.

The pressures of the Internet, etc, will keep such operations from becoming as parochial as they may have been "back in the day," but only a dedicated owner will spend the money on gathering real news.

Shareholders want returns; they don't care if you're doing a good job. News operations don't function well as publicly owned corps. Witness the current mess - rather than investing in new media, the big chains are cutting.

Private concerns can accept smaller returns, secure in the knowledge that people will always need real news.

Precisely, witness the rise of IndyMedia and Current.