|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
ManintheMiddle
Joined: 20 Oct 2008
|
 Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:40 am Post subject: WEST COAST PAPERS FOLDING: NOW ITS THE SF CHRONICLE |
 |
|
I'm utterly dejected, crushed really by this announcement. Another bastion of liberal news commentary and analysis on every page is going bust. Can the LA Times and NY Times be far behind?
Oh, sure, I know the availability of online news and cable outlets has a lot to do with it. But revenge is sweet when smarmy publications which long ago lost their luster--and objectivity--are forced to fold.
The only sad news in all of this is that the Chicago Tribune might be going by the wayside soon as well.
First, it was Air America and liberal talk radio in general and now this! Has the fat (lesbian) lady sung yet?
| Quote: |
San Francisco Chronicle may shut down
By Robert MacMillan and Janet Kornblum Robert Macmillan And Janet Kornblum
Feb 24, 2009
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) � San Francisco may lose its main newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, as owner Hearst Corp cuts a "significant" number of jobs and decides whether to shut or sell the money-losing daily.
The privately held New York-based publisher already is considering shutting a second West Coast paper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in the face of a devastating decline in advertising revenue and big losses.
Founded shortly after Gold Rush fever hit California in the mid-19th century, the Chronicle has long been an essential part of daily life for many Bay Area residents, even as it sometimes disappointed or outraged them.
But the Chronicle lost more than $50 million last year and this year's losses to date are worse, Hearst said on its website on Tuesday. It said the paper has lost "major" amounts of money since 2001, a year after Hearst bought the paper.
"Survival is the outcome we all want to achieve. But without the specific changes we are seeking across the entire Chronicle organization, we will have no choice but to quickly seek a buyer for the Chronicle or, should a buyer not be found, to shut the newspaper down," said Hearst Corp Chief Executive Frank Bennack Jr.
More than 100 employees gathered in a conference room to hear the news from Editor Ward Bushee and Publisher Frank Vega after receiving a message about a mandatory staff meeting.
"Some people were crying at the meeting," said Rachel Gordon, 47, a transportation reporter at the paper. "But people are trying to get the newspaper out for tomorrow."
"We knew it was going to be ominous when we got that message," Gordon added. " said Hearst really wants to make this work, that shutting us down is a last resort."
A Hearst spokesman declined to say whether the company has hired an adviser or banker to try to sell the paper.
The paper employs 275 news staff and is the 12th-largest in the United States, according to the U.S. Audit Bureau of Circulations, with average weekday circulation of 339,430. It is the 19th-largest paper by Sunday circulation.
Circulation fell 7 percent as of the six months ended September 30, 2008, compared with the same period a year earlier.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Chronicle was founded in 1865, about a decade and a half after gold was found in California.
With the help of the local literary crowd, including Mark Twain and Bret Harte, the paper captured the largest circulation west of the Mississippi.
It covered the biggest events in the city's history, from the earthquake and fire of 1906 to the assassination of its mayor, George Moscone, and the state's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, in 1978.
The paper has reflected many changes in U.S. culture first seen in its own often cutting-edge city, including the shift from beatnik -- a word it may have coined -- to hippie in the 1950s and '60s and the shock waves from the AIDS pandemic in the city's sizeable gay population.
"I hate to see a newspaper go," says writer Elizabeth Dietz, 63, of Los Altos, south of San Francisco. "I just hate it. I think we still need our newspapers and there's just nothing like that ancient old Chronicle [redundancy anyone?]. Even though it's irritating, it's an institution. I cannot imagine it not being there."
The Chronicle is the latest U.S. paper to face the threat of extinction if its owners cannot find ways to cut costs. Advance Newspapers' Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, cut its newsroom staff by 40 percent last year.
Hearst has said it might take the Seattle Post-Intelligencer online only or close the paper if it cannot find a buyer by mid-March.
Other papers, including EW Scripps Co's Rocky Mountain News, could fold if a buyer is not found.
The Chronicle and its unions are expected to begin discussing the situation later Tuesday and on Wednesday. Doug Cuthbertson, who represents the Northern California Media Workers Guild, declined to comment on the talks.
Hearst owns several other papers throughout the United States including the Times Union in Albany New York, and the Houston Chronicle. It also owns magazines such as Marie Claire and O, The Oprah Magazine. |
Roll (up) the presses! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Maybe it should go strictly online. It is one of the Top 10 Print media websites in the country.
Obviously it is hurt by the fact that it is located in a heavy tech area. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jeff's Cigarettes
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| If said institutions don't turn a profit or can no longer support their losses than it's time for the to die...we don't live in a socialist country. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| These papers push a highly sanitized, politically correct and totally boring picture of the world. I used to read Canada's National Post, not because I love Jesus and hate abortion but because it was extremely combative and aggressive. Sadly, it no longer is so interesting. These American papers (the NYT, SFC etc) are just plain boring to read. So I no longer read them. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
wesharris
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
There can be only one, liberal news paper.
There can be only one, liberal news paper.
And may it be Liberal Newspaper McCloud!
_+_
Wes |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kcs0001
Joined: 24 Jul 2005
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Cryin' shame ain't it? Another propaganda arm of the Democrat party going down. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Another angle: When newspapers die, sources of news reports die with them. Cable channels rarely can afford full time reporters living in other cities and countries. Blogs can be informative, but are not edited for other points of view. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Another angle: When newspapers die, sources of news reports die with them. Cable channels rarely can afford full time reporters living in other cities and countries. Blogs can be informative, but are not edited for other points of view. |
This certainly seems to be the way the wind is blowing.
Cable networks employ local affiliates all over the world. They expand all over the world as well. CNN now operates a channel in Chile, for example. Different from CNN Latin America, which operates out of Buenos Aires. This is CNN Chile. And all the best reporters from the other stations, including the Catholic Chruch's station, have left their jobs for CNN Chile. Brain drain.
Further, cable networks also rely on "democratic reporting" more and more. Not only the ranting blogs, but also inputs such as CNN's iReporter corps and viewers' emails. Does this count as "reporting?"
And you are absolutely right that we will lose all those local newspapermen with contacts in the power company, the police dept., or the morgue, or whatever, who acquire hard-to-get, off-the-record information that only local insiders can tell us.
Corporate news, like Wallmart, will soon be all that remains, I am afraid. Op-ed city, too. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I disagree. The newspaper will survive, but likely just not the ones we have today. New York and other major cities have a demand for good news in print form. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| And another angle: Newspapers report stories that do not make good visuals on the 6:00 evening news. We see/hear a lot more about fires and car accidents than the debate over a change in zoning laws at the city council meeting because TV is a visual medium in a way that newspapers aren't. The death of local newspapers will intensify this trend. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 3:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
That being said, I'm more informed about what's going on in my hometown (Oakland) now than I was growing up, even though I don't live there any more. The chron never really had a presence in the East Bay (and still doesn't beyond one columnist), while now there are a few blogs devoted to Oakland news. And while obviously they aren't ideal, they do mention city issues I'd otherwise be ignorant about. One covers a number of city council issues. The chronicle hardly ever mentioned anything going on in the Oakland city council.
In short, papers like the chron are partially failing because they didn't have such a pulse on the local scene. Instead a paper like the chron tried to be more broad in its coverage (ie covered both national and international issues more than local). While that was fine and dandy 30 years ago, the paper unfortunately did not adjust to cable news quickly enough, and now the internet. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
