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| S.F. Chronicle In Danger Of Closing |
| 2009-02-25 |
| The Hearst Corp. said Tuesday that unless the San Francisco Chronicle can undertake "critical" cost cutting measures including job cuts within weeks, the company will be forced to sell or close the newspaper, MarketWatch reports. Hearst said the Chronicle lost more than $50 million last year and added that, "this year's losses to date are worse." The Chronicle has had major losses each year since 2001, Hearst said. The closely-held media company said cost reductions including an unspecified reduction in union and non-union employees are needed to restore the Chronicle to health, MarketWatch reports. Several other struggling newspapers around the country are also on the sales block, have filed for bankruptcy or are facing a possible shutdown. Meanwhile, bankruptcy lawyers say three Philadelphia newspaper executives will roll back their 2008 raises while the company tries to shed debt and stay afloat. Chief Executive Brian Tierney's 38 percent pay hike in December has boosted his salary to $850,000. It has raised eyebrows when it was disclosed in this week's filing by owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News to seek bankruptcy protection. The raises have come as two newspapers shed staff amid declining circulation and revenues. Lawyers in court Tuesday say Tierney and two other executives will roll back their recent raises as the case proceeds in Philadelphia. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 EU6305, especially in today's economy. I mean, the economy is worse today than it has ever been. Even before the Great Depression. Unemployment is at an all-time high - there are food riots everywhere. No one has ever seen an economy as bad as today's -- ever. Or so you would believe if you listen to the mainstream media. Actually, unemployment as a percentage of the working force is no where near even levels seen during the Clinton administration. Of course, if you're a journalist for a liberal newspaper, and all you can see is other journalists getting laid off, I suppose it does look like the end of the world. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-02-25 20:33 |
| #9 All those unemployed editors and writers will have to find honest work. That's gonna be tough. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-02-25 18:40 |
| #8 I wonder if anyone will notice? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-02-25 17:28 |
| #7 I find it somewhat unsettling to think of that bastion of intellectual ideas and reasoned thought no longer having a hometown newspaper to express their thoughts and feelings. What will they do with themselves? sarcasm off / :-( |
| Posted by: WolfDog 2009-02-25 16:47 |
| #6 The S. F. Chronicle may be closing. It's good. It's bad. Whatever. It's reality. ADJUST! |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-02-25 13:27 |
| #5 This is good news. Period. It opens the market back up for alternatives, including more balanced papers, radio and internet sources. The most insidious thing about these papers -- the NYT particular -- is that they provide a great deal of useful information: book reviews, travel stores, news about new electronic gadgets, etc. Reading the NYT every day gives you a VERY strong sense that you are well informed -- and all the wile everything of real importance is omitted or an outright lie. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-02-25 12:52 |
| #4 Oh, don't tease me. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-02-25 08:51 |
| #3 Well, with papers going out of business, it's a start. The market for local advertising is there, it just needs to be served by something other than a newsroom so biased that it doesn't even recognize when it's doing it. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-02-25 05:34 |
| #2 But gromky, I fear that the business woes will do nothing to change the truly astonishing stranglehold that the major-media mentality has over the public square in the US, and the catastrophic damage that does to the country - both things dramatically demonstrated just this past November. I'm starting to marvel a bit at the ability of so many (sadly a minority) to reason effectively about their world, despite the distortion and delusion that suffuses the "press," popular culture, academia, etc. It's sort of the way I felt about the remarkably sensible and independent views of the US I found in recently-former Soviet citizens throughout the former Union back in the early 90s. How sad is it that America today and dreary, propagandized, long-totalitarian former Soviet republics 15 years ago have such striking parallels? |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2009-02-25 02:45 |
| #1 Hooray! |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-02-25 02:38 |