Lay-offs at the Compost

[Jolly]

The Washington Compost, to be exact. Buy-outs, lay-offs...Whatever term you wish to use, the paper is hemorrhaging money.

www.npr.org/2023/10/10/1204939842/the-washington-post-will-cut-240-jobs-through-voluntary-buyouts

Our local paper has gone to nothing, filled with mostly Gannet fill pieces and a local writer's staff that would fit in a booth at the diner. And that seems to be the case in a lot of places.

In thirty years, will newspapers still exist?

[woolybear]

Jolly, same situation here with my local "gannet, usa today" newspaper. I get everyone elses "local" news except my own - well I do get a couple articles to keep the sheep happy. One of the main reasons that I have facebok, I'm in a local group that keeps members informed to what is happening. Things like the shootings, drug busts, crime. What's really funny is everytime a person calls the town "little Baltimore" the mayor would always pipe up and say "oh no we are not like that". That mayor went on to be a little fish in the governor's big pond. A POC with no background in much of any type of leadership gets appointed mayor. Never hear a peep out of her, except for her to say that now she wants to run for congress. Any previous mayor that I can remember (and that's quite a few) was always being quoted or had their mug in the paper. Now all I see/hear is crickets, unless it involves someone from far northern Pa. or NJ. Maybe those papers are getting my local news?

[UseLess]

I have a Gannett newspaper delivered on weekends, read the online weekdays. The local news is often from cities 3 & 4 hours away, or more, except for all the shootings in the one closest. The worst is articles like how to xeriscape: here in the water-rich Finger Lakes we should go with sand, gravel, & a couple cacti??   

I had few ideas about what I wanted retirement to be like. I left in good part because many I'd worked with a long time were going, & it was financially expedient to do so. One clear thought: to read the paper at a leisurely pace in the AM while having my coffee. See how that worked out. I like having newsprint to go under the litter boxes or the cutting board. 

[Jolly]

Part of the reason I started this thread, was something I saw on Sunday Morning a few months ago. It's interesting and worth the watch...

[wildhorseluvr]

I always enjoyed reading the paper until they all started going liberal. First cancelled the city paper, and eventually the other. A friend owned/published the local paper and when he sold out and retired, new owners published a lot of liberal crap and not much of local interest.

“I like having newsprint to go under the litter boxes or the cutting board.”
I no longer have cats or birds so don’t have much use for a paper anymore.

I don’t think it’ll take 30 years. 

[wildhorseluvr]

Another factor is that few young people seem to have any interest in a paper, they get all the news instantly online. Or in the case of many small towns, word of mouth is nearly as fast. We have a nice little paper in my current town, but the cost is just not worthwhile to me. I can get the same news for free by talking to a few people around town. 

[Jolly]

Oct 11, 2023 14:08:23 GMT wildhorseluvr said:

Another factor is that few young people seem to have any interest in a paper, they get all the news instantly online. Or in the case of many small towns, word of mouth is nearly as fast. We have a nice little paper in my current town, but the cost is just not worthwhile to me. I can get the same news for free by talking to a few people around town. 

True. That's why I thought the video was interesting. They have a consortium of small town papers, independently owned, that share stories. Gives you the local news and society stuff, while also letting you know what's happening in the next county or two.

[Ozarks Tom]

I remember a gal from the advertising department of the Springfield News Leader came in our store and wanted us to advertise in the paper. I suggested I just write a check to the Communist Party USA and cut out the middleman.

[Tricky Grama]

Oct 11, 2023 13:59:01 GMT wildhorseluvr said:

I always enjoyed reading the paper until they all started going liberal. First cancelled the city paper, and eventually the other. A friend owned/published the local paper and when he sold out and retired, new owners published a lot of liberal crap and not much of local interest.

“I like having newsprint to go under the litter boxes or the cutting board.”
I no longer have cats or birds so don’t have much use for a paper anymore.

I don’t think it’ll take 30 years. 

We took the Dallas Morning DimobatNews for decades, stopped it TWICE & told them why. Their slant on EVERYTHING is so far left & anything good happening on the conservative side never got reported. They'll not learn & they'll all die.