Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Why I Have Been Buying the Boston Globe

Because they aren't going to be aren't going to be around much longer!

"Newspapers retrench amid industry turmoil; Four major US dailies offer new faces to public" by Associated Press | March 31, 2009

NEW YORK - Four major US daily newspapers sported makeovers yesterday as they grapple with life in a world of digital news.

Quit telling lies. That might help.

Some of the biggest changes were happening in Detroit, where the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News offered free copies of their newly slimmed-down Monday editions. The newspapers now will be delivering to homes just three days a week - Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, the most popular days for advertisers.

The newspapers also were promoting electronic versions that are laid out like the print editions. The regular online editions will be open free to anyone, but the electronic versions that have the newspaper layout will be for subscribers only. The newspapers said higher-than-expected demand caused delays in the digital editions' loading times.

No one is reading them anyway (except fools like me).

Elsewhere, The Washington Post put out its first newspaper with business news folded into the front section. And The International Herald Tribune introduced a redesigned print edition and took on a new form online, merging with the website of The New York Times, which is published by the same company. The New York Times Co. also owns The Boston Globe.

Yes, I'm well aware of the incestuous nature of AmeriKa's papers!

The Detroit papers found themselves giving out free copies on a particularly busy news day, with the White House ousting General Motors Corp. chief executive Rick Wagoner and the Michigan State Spartans winning a spot in the NCAA Final Four.

Gannett Co. and MediaNews Group, which publish the Free Press and the News in partnership, said more than 500,000 copies were distributed free for the first time in those newspapers' history.... Both newspapers will be kept shorter than usual - about 32 pages - on the four days they don't deliver.

Meanwhile, the website of the Times Co.'s International Herald Tribune moved to global.nytimes.com. A link from the Times's website offers readers its "global" online edition, which features the IHT masthead over a site that looks almost identical to www.nytimes.com, but features international news more prominently.

I never go to Times' websites anymore.

See Sunday Leftovers: The Boston Globe Hates Men for more.

At The Washington Post, business and economic coverage moved inside the "A" section, and a daily page on Washington business news replaced a weekly one that used to run on Mondays. An index of headlines also appeared on page A2 with a list of the most popular stories online. The print edition of the newspaper's Style section lost some of its comic strips, which will still run online.

--more--"

One day, readers, you will go to the corner store and there WILL BE NO NEWSPAPERS!!!

:-)

The Boston Globe said yesterday it completed cutting the equivalent of 50 full-time jobs from its newsroom, with about 60 percent of the reductions achieved through voluntary buyouts.

The remaining jobs were eliminated through layoffs of full- and part-time staff, said Globe editor Martin Baron in a note to staff. On Thursday, the Globe laid off 20 part-time employees in its newsroom....

The Globe, like papers across the country, has cut jobs in both newsroom and business operations as print circulation and advertising have declined. Even though many papers, including the Globe, reach more readers than ever through the Internet, newspaper websites are not generating enough advertising revenues to make up for the decline in print advertising.

The industry has also been hit by the recession, which has hurt traditional advertisers such as retailers.

Yeah, the AGENDA-PUSHING LIES have NOTHING to do with it, huh?

To further cut costs, The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, said last week that nonunion employees at the New York Times newspaper and the Globe will take a temporary 5 percent pay cut. The Times Co. said unionized employees in Boston and New York also will be asked for wage reductions soon.

Baron added.... "We can all be proud that this newsroom continues to deliver journalism of the highest caliber."

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Is that what they are calling distortions and propaganda these days?

See: Globe Pats Itself on Back