$349B stimulus comes too late
to save many newspapers
by
Keith J. Kelly
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
3/27/2020 9:48:20 AM
The reeling US newspaper industry will be eligible to tap a portion of the $2 trillion stimulus package that contains $349 billion earmarked for small businesses. But the potential rescue package comes too late to help dozens of newsrooms that have been slashing jobs as shuttered local businesses stop advertising. News advertising has plummeted between 20 and 30 percent in the past two weeks compared to a year ago, according to the International News Media Association. The Washingtonian stopped using freelancers, laid off all its fellows and instituted a 10 percent pay cut for surviving staffers.
The Austin Chronicle is moving from a weekly
Reply 1 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 3/27/2020 9:52:41 AM (No. 359602)
Perhaps just a case of "roll left and die."
28 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Safari Man 3/27/2020 9:53:44 AM (No. 359609)
But there's hope in that the demand for toilet paper is at al all-time-high.
32 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
snapper451 3/27/2020 9:54:13 AM (No. 359611)
Survival of the fittest, circle of life. No loss losing liberal rags.
34 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
earlybird 3/27/2020 9:56:13 AM (No. 359614)
Their “reeling” has absolutely nothing to do with the coronavirus crisis. They shouldn’t get a penny.
50 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Cherrybark 3/27/2020 9:59:36 AM (No. 359622)
Our local paper, in a generally conservative East Texas town, had stories and news covering the area. It was a little irritating that coverage of area events was usually "Here is something fun you missed last weekend" rather than "Here are coming events". The final straw was all of the anti-Trump AP stores they used as filler. And, too often, those stories were on the front page.
30 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
MDConservative 3/27/2020 10:09:57 AM (No. 359631)
Now is a great opportunity for a CONSERVATIVE billionaire to build a CONSERVATIVE media empire on the cheap. Or, for a CONSERVATIVE consortium to do the same. But, one knows it won't happen. It's better to moan and groan about the NYT and WaPo and the liberal media monopoly.
25 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 3/27/2020 10:11:53 AM (No. 359633)
I hope that the Denver Post finally goes away. Much of its content was bought from the Slimes, anyway.
24 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
hershey 3/27/2020 10:18:46 AM (No. 359644)
Oh my oh my, terrible news...what will I use to line the bird cage now????
13 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
HPmatt 3/27/2020 10:20:01 AM (No. 359646)
I’ll give a reimbursement for every newspaper former employee that makes an ‘A’ in C++ programming classes at the local Community College online class....
13 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Muguy 3/27/2020 10:26:59 AM (No. 359655)
Technology has changed the way we get our "news".
With the advent of CNN, which at one time was a serious venture, and the internet, people no longer have to read the "newspaper".
The local paper is still alive, but is now basically reporting local sports stories and being there to document the government business at the local level and to post legal notices. The inflated advertising rates for the dwindling businesses who have brick and mortar stores are being undercut by the online ventures like Amazon. Wedding announcements on the "Society page" has largely been curtailed and the Obituaries are being streamlined into form letters unless exhorbitant rates are paid for space.
The market is forcing many to be bought and sold or just fold. Small-town America is still there, but most are weekly issues if that.
The "news" is now whatever the agenda-driven propagandists want it to be, regardless of TRUTH.
The Texas Tribune is left-leaning and people just don't want to spend their time reading things which insult our intelligence with propaganda.
17 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
DVC 3/27/2020 10:37:47 AM (No. 359666)
I use several sheets, crumpled up as the base for my fire starting every morning at our cabin in the mountains. I have to save whatever newspaper I can find, since I don't get the big, 2 lb Sunday papers any more, and they certainly aren't 2 lbs, either.
When the KC Red Star is gone, I think some friends and I will get together and have a little party. Horrible paper, horrible people, writing lies and propaganda all the time. I subscribed for 20 years, finally couldn't take their lies any more. When I was heavily involved in politics for a while, I knew many state and local politicians personally, and was able to ask them about stories written about them. They told me the truth. I found out how much was pure lies, first hand. Zero sympathy for leftist liars.
19 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
seamusm 3/27/2020 10:46:49 AM (No. 359681)
Awwww! Technology and political one-sided idiocy has made newspapers superfluous and worse than worthless.
11 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
hurricanegirl 3/27/2020 10:50:47 AM (No. 359686)
For those of you who will soon be without fire starters when all the newspapers are gone (thank God), try dryer lint. It works great, and you don't have to take any liberal BS off it (unless you just want to). For the next major DEM-panic, I've come up with a great bargaining idea: paper bags stuffed with dryer lint and a small box of strike-anywhere matches.
13 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
lana720 3/27/2020 10:51:29 AM (No. 359688)
Kinda hard to crank out a tear or two.
15 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Pearson365 3/27/2020 10:57:18 AM (No. 359701)
The decline of newspapers and magazines began with their leftist push for recycling. Having to separate newspapers and mags from household garbage was an annoyance that was easily solvable: don’t buy newspapers or subscribe to magazines.
This “save the earth” nonsense was soon followed by the growing use of the Web for immediate news and information rather than yesterday’s or last month’s, and the incredible proliferation of iPhones and similar meant that only Democrat loyalists in Blue cities needed the leftist editorials and agenda driven reporting. Newspapers and most mags have gone the way of phone booths and cars without multiple airbags, forced out by either technology and/or government mandates. Besides, have you ever tried to take a selfie with a newspaper?
5 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
mobyclik 3/27/2020 11:00:36 AM (No. 359705)
I'll have to check my watchpocket for my teeny-tiny violin.
4 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
HotRod 3/27/2020 11:03:45 AM (No. 359709)
Let them make toilet paper and paper towels. Much better for America than fake news!
11 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
anniebc 3/27/2020 11:08:25 AM (No. 359715)
I'm willing, poster 6, when you are ready to get the ball rolling. Seriously.
3 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
stablemoney 3/27/2020 11:16:28 AM (No. 359723)
I despise our local paper, and do not subscribe. Most other people don't either. When you offend your customers, instead of serving your customers, you don't get many customers.
13 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
MickTurn 3/27/2020 11:18:14 AM (No. 359727)
The sooner the Leftist Newspapers go broke the better.
Oh, you're too harsh...my reply...Pound Sand!
10 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Vesicant 3/27/2020 11:23:37 AM (No. 359739)
How many "journalists" does a newspaper need just to reprint whatever the Associated Press and the Democratic National Committee send them?
14 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
DaddyO 3/27/2020 11:28:21 AM (No. 359743)
"Gimme a break! Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace - uh, write a byline - can learn how to program for God's sake."
Joe Biden
5 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
oldmagnolia 3/27/2020 11:36:35 AM (No. 359758)
No big loss. Nobody will miss them.
6 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
winmag 3/27/2020 11:40:33 AM (No. 359768)
Another silver lining in the Corona cloud.
9 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
cor-vet 3/27/2020 11:46:51 AM (No. 359782)
I don't believe this is an essential item that needs to be saved.
8 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
john56 3/27/2020 11:54:22 AM (No. 359794)
I really miss newspapers. I grew up reading newspapers, when I first went on my own, I subscribed to both the local papers (since reduced to one). Moved to a small town, got their paper. The local paper went from 5 days a week to 2 a few months ago, Until a year or so ago, I got the big city paper but it was up to $35 or so a month or more so I decided to go to 3 days a week (F,S,S). About a month ago, that was going up to $9 a week and the paper was getting smaller by the week so I told them to stop. Sad, because a newspaper used to have information and it's easier to flip through the paper than through Mr Google and the information overload.
But the newspaper folks brought it upon themselves, by going lefty and not paying attention to what people want and truly need to know.
13 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 3/27/2020 11:55:17 AM (No. 359795)
What's Coronavirus got to do with it? Last time I checked newspapers get delivered to subscribers, even if they're self-quarantining. Clearly the newspapers have lost ad revenue to the Internet, and the Classifieds are done online as well. No one whined and cried when we lost hundreds of thousands of middle class jobs as a result of the consumer electronics industry moving to Japan, Korea, and now China. Nope. Not a single care or concern from the liberal elites.
10 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
heartsurgeon 3/27/2020 12:01:01 PM (No. 359804)
How about bailing out Western Union/telegraph companies too?
5 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
udanja99 3/27/2020 12:03:19 PM (No. 359806)
Silver lining - more winning!!!
6 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
Heil Liberals 3/27/2020 12:37:59 PM (No. 359853)
They utterly failed in adapting to the Information Age. It’s funny how others are managing to remain profitable. Everyone knows why they are gasping their last breaths. On the other hand, it leaves a lot of people free to figure out how best to earn a living. Hint: it isn’t with the Free Everything Leftists that they write for now.
4 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
Luandir 3/27/2020 12:45:26 PM (No. 359863)
Karmavirus.
8 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
LeeBertie 3/27/2020 1:02:12 PM (No. 359886)
The "Save Journalism Project"? AKA The Save Leftist Hack Mouthpiece Project.
5 people like this.
Reply 33 - Posted by:
Strike3 3/27/2020 1:24:30 PM (No. 359917)
Such a shame. We who appreciate our local businesses are trying to help them out daily by buying at drive-up windows and submitting orders for food to go. Newspapers, not so much.
I had my first taste of journalism long ago when I headed a group that opposed the local school board and the liberal administration that was ruining our school. I quoted some great statements that came from Dr. Thomas Sowell and was severely misquoted on all of them. Our non-support is payment for your fake news and severe liberal slant. So long, chumps,
6 people like this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
doctorfixit 3/27/2020 1:43:32 PM (No. 359945)
Communist propaganda cannot survive a free market of ideas. Refuse any bailout. They need to die.
5 people like this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
DCGIRL 3/27/2020 2:06:11 PM (No. 359982)
It was just a matter of time. Why should this stimulus package save something that was dying before the virus sham.
2 people like this.
Reply 36 - Posted by:
YorkieMom 3/27/2020 3:14:52 PM (No. 360054)
We still take the newspaper and would miss it if it folded. Sheldon Adelson, the owner of the Review-Journal, is a big backer of Trump and Republicans. The editorials are conservative and it has a nice balance of news.
2 people like this.
Reply 37 - Posted by:
DVC 3/27/2020 5:16:24 PM (No. 360162)
#36, great news. If I had a paper like that, I would subscribe, too.
5 people like this.
Reply 38 - Posted by:
JimBob 3/27/2020 5:39:24 PM (No. 360179)
The local McClatchy rag here in south Mississippi, the Sun-Herald, has been circling the drain for several years.
Thinner, thinner, thinner, more expensive, more expensive, more expensive.
They stopped printing locally, cut back the number of issues per week, are selling their building, appear to be shutting down home delivery, and are going completely on-line (behind a paywall, of course).
But, they still have their Leftist editorials and NASTY Vulgar Anti-President Trump editorial cartoons.
So Long, Scum!
My Give-A-Dam's Busted!
.... and think of the CO-2 being saved!
3 people like this.
Reply 39 - Posted by:
or gate 3/27/2020 7:41:25 PM (No. 360306)
The fish wraps lie thru their teeth.
0 people like this.
Reply 40 - Posted by:
IowaDad 3/27/2020 7:46:49 PM (No. 360311)
They should convert to making toilet rolls. Much more appropriate site of action for most journalists.
1 person likes this.
Reply 41 - Posted by:
XCenturion 3/27/2020 8:53:42 PM (No. 360364)
Convert the newspaper industry to one that's more useful. Toilet paper!
1 person likes this.
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The US newspaper industry has been "reeling" for years, driven largely by an offensively leftist slant, and also by massive levels of debt and pension obligations. The Newhouse papers have been downsizing for years, and also switching to digital only or limited print versions. NY Times is overleveraged, no one wants the Tribune papers, etc. Huge litany of failures and they should not get a penny of taxpayer money because they taxpayers have already spoken by cancelling their newspaper subscriptions.