New York Times threatens to shut Boston Globe

[cali]

Source: Reuters


Fri Apr 3, 2009 8:21pm EDT BOSTON, April 3 (Reuters) - The New York Times Co (NYT.N) has threatened to shut The Boston Globe unless the newspaper's unions agree to $20 million in concessions, the Globe reported on Friday, quoting union leaders.

The union officials said executives from Globe and the Times, which owns the Boston newspaper, made the demands on Thursday morning in a meeting with leaders of the newspaper's 13 unions, the Globe reported.

"Management told union leaders Thursday that the Globe will lose $85 million in 2009, unless serious cutbacks are made, according to a Globe employee briefed on the discussions," the Globe report said. That compares with an estimated $50 million loss last year, the newspaper quoted the employee as saying.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0336447520090404

[tomm2thumbs]

1. they'll probably just end up creating a NY Times with a different banner and print it in Boston

One section of local news and the rest spit out directly from the NY Times - like the networks do with television stations.

[leveymg]

4. That is already partially the case. Globe has been running NYT wire articles in inside pages.

Would be hideous if the front-page writers and editors were all let go.

I have a strong affection for The Globe, as it was the paper where I got my first op-ed piece published in 1979 when I was a Sophomore at BU covering a large anti-nuclear protest at Seabrook, NH. The school paper wouldn't publish it, as they had their own staff writers, so I took it to The Globe. Thought they might extract it as a Letter to the Editor. Sure enough, bright and early the next morning, my landlady came running upstairs shouting my name - I thought the house was on fire - but there it was, I had made it onto the op-ed page!

[SoxFan]

20. They already did that

The Times shut down all of the Globe's excellent overseas bureaus, terminated most of the regional "Sunday splits" like NH Weekly, City Weekly, North Shore Weekly, etc, got rid of the weekly Books section, closed bureaus in Concord, NH and Worcester, MA, and turned the living section into a snarky tabloid trainwreck. The only thing they haven't screwed up is the Sports section, and that's probably because the Times has never had a good sports section, so there's no "journalistic imperialism" on that front.

[bobburgster]

2. Sad

I have been an avid Globe reader for years....would hate to see it go.

[BunkerHill24]

3. Sadly, ever since NY Times bought out Boston Globe I had given up on them

Therefore I no longer consider the Globe any different than the Ny Times....hence fuck them both.

[SpiralHawk]

7. used to like it

Then it took a decidedly republicon corporate turn downhill...

[Posteritatis]

11. I just discovered "The Big Picture"... that going would suck (nt)

[BR_Parkway]

5. How can you possibly lose that much money on one city based paper?

How much debt did they slap on it when they bought it?

[Deja Q]

6. Didn't Rupert "FOX" Murdoch buy NYT recently?

[cali]

8. No. They bought the WSJ.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. Wake up and smell the newsprint folks! Papers and their staff are in trouble because

folks like some here don't buy 'em. Lots of people losing jobs. "Don't read it any more after NYTimes bought it." "It's too corporate..." Bull. It's still a real good world class paper. With real reporters, who
by the way are often real good at news gathering and writing unlike a lot you read on the Internets...
You get your news for free from websites and then wonder why newspapers are in trouble? Rocket science.

[daleo]

18. I canceled our local paper because of its right wing politics

Newspapers have to go back to being objective, as much as that is humanly possible. It is just a matter of respecting their entire readership, not just catering to one part of it.

When that happens, I will gladly go back to being a subscriber.

[Honeycombe8]

10. That's a sad reality. Newspapers are in deep trouble and are closing left and right.

Newspaper unions making demands in such an environment is futile. That would only hasten the closing of the doors.

It's said. But I must say that I haven't subscribed to a newspaper in many years. Why? Because we have only one in town, and it is bent toward the GOP (The Dallas Morning News). Imagine: It was one of the few in the country that ENDORSED McCain in 2008. Second, because newspapers insist on NOT selling just the weekend paper. If you want the weekend papers, you MUST order Friday, too. I have no interest in Friday papers; they merely stack up and create more of a mess for me to round up and clear out later. I resent having to pay for something I don't want. The result: I haven't suscribed to a paper in many years. I just buy the Sunday paper on occasion.

[AndyTiedye]

12. The Unions are Making no Demands, the Company is Demanding Deep Concessions

Newspapers are getting a double whammy.
They are increasingly becoming obsolete as people go to the Internet for news.
At the same time, most have been dragged quite far to the right by the corporations that own them.
That has considerably annoyed their readers, who put up with it when it was
confined to the editorial pages, but not so much when they edit the news to suit the same political agenda.

TV and radio are hurting, but not as much. TV is a self-eating ice-cream cone,
as long as Neilsen says there are viewers, the advertisers will pay them.
The "Nielsen Families" are very carefully selected.
If the rest of us stop watching, it doesn't make any difference to anyone.

[KamaAina]

16. "The "Nielsen Families" are very carefully selected."

I actually got a robocall claiming to be from Nielsen a couple of weeks ago, telling me "the diary's in the mail". Then.... (crickets). Finally another robocall telling me my survey period was ending! :wtf:

[bemildred]

13. The problem isn't the unions.

The problem is loss of advertising revenue. Because nobody reads the want ads anymore, or any other ads. And screwing the unions will not fix it. Their business model is broken, and they will have to find a new business model based on content, or they will be toast. TV has similar issues, and radio, and so on. It's technological obsolescence of their business model.

[Psephos]

17. exactly right n/t

[ohio2007]

14. just beating a dead horse before its turned to glue

Acting like they could actually save the paper :rofl:

[KamaAina]

15. We've been going at this since last night

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5387860&mesg_id=5387860

[Chemical Bill]

19. It's that damn liberal media again.... n/t

[Blue_Tires]

21. so Boston would just be left with the Herald?

:puke: