Newspapers are drying up (Cops/Squeezer where you at)

[Liquid Blue]

The Chicago Tribune has declared bankruptcy

How right he was. Just one year after Zell bought the company (BusinessWeek, 7/30/08), Tribune announced on Dec. 8 that it is filing for bankruptcy. That means Zell could lose a small fraction of his estimated $5 billion fortune. The reason: The man who likes to call himself "the grave dancer" put very little of his own skin in the game. Instead, employees of the Tribune properties will bear the brunt of the pain, as they technically own the company and hold its $12.9 billion in debt. Tribune reported $7.6 billion in assets.

Tribune comprises eight newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and Baltimore Sun; a 31% share of Food Network; two dozen TV stations, including outlets in the three biggest U.S. markets; and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The Cubs franchise was not part of the bankruptcy filing.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/...pStories_ssi_5


http://gawker.com/5106410/daily-show-on-death-of-print

They're not the only ones hurting for money either, the New York Times is taking another mortgage on their main building after thinking about selling it and leasing it until they paid off their debts.

The Rocky Mountain News and the Miami Herald join the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, San Diego Union-Tribune and Austin American-Statesman as major papers up for sale. The Rocky Mountain News will close in mid-january if no buyer is found (doubtful).

How do you all feel about so many newspapers going under? Cops/Squeezer I know you two are media heads, specifically into journalism so your opinions as well would be appreciated.

I know print in general is losing more and more subscribers as more people turn to the internet (especially magazines) and as such, less companies are willing to pay for ads, which make up the brunt of the revenue for print companies, but it didn't cross my mind to think actual Newspapers were doing this bad.

[kthx]

This is hilarious honestly.

The liberal newspapers that has been spouting Al Goreism and other complete crap about global warming are now in need of a bailout. Maybe using trees that have to be cut down and soaked in chemicals isn't so eco-friendly after all. Isn't this what they were going for, or did they not realize they were going to be one of the first media outlets to go in todays eco-friendly world. Classic.

[Kolar]

Walter Isaacson was on The Daily Show last night, he wrote an article in Time about how the papers can save themselves. I haven't read it but I think he made a complete fool of himself on the show. The man has no clue what new media is or how it can be profitable, he believes the papers should move towards a subscription based system with online content.

Obviously if I goto Nytimes.com I'm not going to get everything I would from the actual paper edition, it's ad supported and the content is light so it generates revenue. He wants to scrap that and go completely subscription based "like Itunes". First, online subscriptions like paper edition subscriptions have to be seen as a niche market, it's a sad fact but people are cheap. And second a pay-per-use news aggregation website would fail big time, as long as free aggregators exist as well as social media (Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us ect..). Fucking ridiculous. If this is the best print has to offer then they deserve to die off.

[Squeezer]

This is hilarious honestly.

The liberal newspapers that has been spouting Al Goreism and other complete crap about global warming are now in need of a bailout. Maybe using trees that have to be cut down and soaked in chemicals isn't so eco-friendly after all. Isn't this what they were going for, or did they not realize they were going to be one of the first media outlets to go in todays eco-friendly world. Classic.

You really are a fucking idiot. What are you doing right now? Reading shit on the internet right? What does that mean? No subscriptions o fees, which means no money. These companies are going bankrupt because no one wants to buy a subscription to something they can read for free. The industry is drastically changing. My school is very honest about this. They can't help the outgoing seniors and are basically patting them on the ass and saying, "good luck."

Honestly though, I'm not worried. As long as you're willing to take chances on the new online market and be creative (plus have skillz, like photoshop skills and indesign skills and video editing skills and writing skills), I figure it's possible to find some upstart company.

Good riddance, in my opinion. The newspapers, as they stand now, are little more than a symbol for the boomers to talk about how they upset the establishment and take credit for Watergate.

On the other hand, the death of newspapers could mean that even more people go to cable channels for their news. I don't think I need to explain why that would be bad.

Also, the Seattle PI is for sale. If you fork over the bones to buy it LB, I'll restart it with you.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/busine...persale10.html

[Cops]

yeah newspapers have been dying for awhile, it was only a matter of time. I don't think they'll die completely, but they are going to severely shrink in size.

The journalism jobs that exist now are online content like Squeezer said, also newspapers are cutting paper journalists and hiring Broadcasters to boost their online content. It's a bonus for me since my cities newspaper doesn't have a single Broadcast journalist working there, just some print journalist who has no experience using a camera or skill at video editing.

Newspapers have two options, really

1) fire the print journalists and hire broadcast journalists
2) re-train the print journalists to become broadcast journalists

The latter of the two doesn't really work considering papers don't have the resources to train journalists with the necessary skills to become Broadcasters.

[Squeezer]

yeah newspapers have been dying for awhile, it was only a matter of time. I don't think they'll die completely, but they are going to severely shrink in size.

Can we start Canadian media conglomerate plz

[kthx]

Squeezers just mad that he isn't smart enough to cheat at mafia.

[Vehicle]

You give the newspapers website your creditcard information and create an account. Every time you log in and read the day's paper, you get charged 5 cents automatically. No recurring fees or anything.

Why wouldn't it work?

Edit: No auto-login obviously, and you'd be asked "Do you want to read today's paper?"

[kthx]

Because there is too much readily available free information out there. And I don't think that the liberal times or any other terrible newspaper is worth five cents a day to read over quite a few better free sites.

[Izor]

hell if foxnews started charging 5 cents a day to look at their website id just be looking at cnn more. or, more likely, the drudge report

These newspapers all had this coming for backing Obama, though.

[kthx]

I just rely on Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to give me all the news I need to hear every day.

[Squeezer]

hell if foxnews started charging 5 cents a day to look at their website id just be looking at cnn more. or, more likely, the drudge report

These newspapers all had this coming for backing Obama, though.

this has been coming long before Obama.

newspapers, like the music and film industries, are behind on the times and dying because of it.

[raizin]

I get all the news i need in the world right here from the GENERAL DISCUSSION SECTION. you guys all have majors in the bullshit you spout everyday amirite?? amirite??



Also, Im glad the Seattle P.I. is for sale, most bias peice of shit that i read at my work everyday.

Only problem is the Seattle Times is just as bad.

[Vehicle]

hell if foxnews started charging 5 cents a day to look at their website id just be looking at cnn more. or, more likely, the drudge report

Well I'm saying ALL the newspapers do it jointly, they're practically all owned by 5 people.

[Troll King]

A subscription-based model won't work.

Even in print, revenue from subscriptions to the local newsstand generate just a fraction of total revenue. Advertising is where the bulk of the money lies, and there's no way they can earn enough that way through subscriptions.

Then you throw in the amount of competition online, including blogs, people won't pay for content that will come out for free eventually.

Oh, and Wark, please, you know the media's liberal bias has little to do with this issue. Even if they were more conservative, this would still have happened. I expect this kind of thing from Izor but your trolling attempts are usually much harder to dismiss as tripe. Any idiot can see through your attempt here.