Jan
10
2009 is off to a brutal start when it comes to news of the newspapering business: more layoffs, threatened closures and more. There has also, in the first 10 days of the new year, been a tremendous amount of really smart writing about the business of newspapers.
- Globe and Mail cutting work force. The G&M becomes the latest Canadian newspaper to announce deep cuts: 10 per cent of the workforce, first through buyouts and then, if not enough people take the package to go away, through layoffs. I do not expect this to be the last announcement of layoffs in Canadian media in 2009.
- Seattle Surprise. The big news is, of course, the announcement that if the Seattle Post-Intelligencer can’t be sold it will be become online only, with a much smaller staff, or shut down. More interesting commentary on Seattle, and the issue of JOAs, comes from Robert Picard, Scott Rosenberg and Alan Mutter, all of which are worth reading.
- Fisher sells Pegasus News. Like Cory Bergman at Lost Remote, I’m surprised by this. Fisher had announced big plans for one of the premiere hyperlocal sites, but never did anything with it. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the latest owners of the site.
- Sun-Times Media Group to Close 12 Chicago Weekly Newspapers. Tell me again how hyperlocal is one of newspaperings saving graces? In truth, I suspect we will see more media groups hammer their weeklies to try and maintain the core dailies.
- Daily Telegraph outsources production to Australia. More local pain as others gain. Also from England: Roy Greenslade’s Sales decline is accelerating.
- A new print team: Smaller in size, tighter in focus. Michele McLellan writes of the reality of the new newsroom teams. Kirk Lapointe responds.
- The upside of disappearing newspaper advertising. Robert Picard says that with fewer ads, you can now more clearly see the content. He then changes his mind and decides that’s a downside.
- The Internet isn’t killing newspapers. Shorter Steve Yelvington: The problem is the economy but that doesn’t mean newspapers come back as the economy improves. Related: Retail slump will gut newspaper ad sales by Alan Mutter.
- Traditional Publishing, Rest in Peace. The latest website tracking the declining fortunes of traditional media. And very nicely designed, too.
- Classifieds: Look on the sunny side. Steve Outing does just that and finds some reason for hope for newspapers.
- A User’s Guide to 21st Century Economics. Finally, a sobering thought for newspaper folk and the rest of the world, too. What if the economy, like everything else, is going through a period of fundamental change?
