The New York Sun published its final edition this morning, ending the 6 1/2-year-old newspaper's tenure.
The daily paper never posted a profit during it's short life.
Like many other newspapers, the Sun had been losing a considerable amount of money each month with the high price of newsprint and plummeting advertising revenue. The paper was known, according to a New York Post article, for its "conservative, pro-Israel editorial slant."
Editor Seth Lipsky wrote that he and vice president and managing editor Ira Stoll did everything they could to save the paper.
"We have spoken with every individual who seemed to be a prospective partner, and everywhere we were received with courtesy and respect. I tend to be an optimist and held out hope for a favorable outcome as late as mid-afternoon [Sunday]. But among other problems that we faced was the fact that this month, not to mention this week, has been one of the worst in a century in which to be trying to raise capital, and in the end we were out not only of money but time."
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was sad to see the paper go.
"In a City saturated with news coverage and commentary, The Sun shone brightly, though too briefly. Whether you agreed or disagreed with the Sun’s writers, they were smart, thoughtful, provocative – and sometimes even courageous. What other paper in America urged Dick Cheney to run for President? The Sun launched the careers of many talented and dedicated journalists, whose stories often raised the bar for their competitors. I am sorry to see the Sun halt its presses and send my best wishes to all labored so hard to make it a success, especially Seth Lipsky and Ira Stoll."
Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, in his first comments since resigning from office, said "The Sun has been a spectacular addition to the city's political discourse and is one of the finest papers in terms of editing, writing, and analysis that one can find anywhere."
Read Lipsky's statement to the newspaper staff here.
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It's a good time to be a business reporter, says Columbia Journalism Review
Washington Post Co. buys foreign policy magazine
Mizzou's famed journalism alums and professors ponder newspaper's future
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wichita Eagle, Miami Herald, Tacoma News Tribune all lose key staffers
A longtime cartoonist, a county hall reporter, and 18 more employees have departed from some of the biggest newspaper's in America this week, each leaving in a fashion befitting the industry's current free-fall state.
The Wichita Eagle lost Richard Crowson, who had been the paper's cartoonist since 1987. There were once 350 editorial cartoonists in the country, the Wichita Business Journal reports, but that number has been whittled to just 75.
The Miami Herald's Matthew Pinzur, a country hall reporter, left the newspaper to take a six-figure job as a "special assistant to Miami-Dade County Manager Geroge Burgess," the Miami New Times reports.
Both people in the newsroom and that work for Miami-Dade County are concerned about the move, with one Herald reporter saying he felt "jilted" and a county official saying the move "makes me very suspect."
And the Tacoma News Tribune is cutting 18 more employees, the newspaper's publisher told his staff Sept. 24. Just one of the 18 employees will be laid off; 17 will be offered buyouts. The newspaper cut 82 staffers in July. During this round of layoffs, just six of the 18 come from the editorial staff and just four are reporters.
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Longtime Red Sox beat reporter leaves Providence Journal
Post-Dispatch to reduce Washington Bureau to one after election
Twenty seven Ombudsmen cut in the past year
The Wichita Eagle lost Richard Crowson, who had been the paper's cartoonist since 1987. There were once 350 editorial cartoonists in the country, the Wichita Business Journal reports, but that number has been whittled to just 75.
The Miami Herald's Matthew Pinzur, a country hall reporter, left the newspaper to take a six-figure job as a "special assistant to Miami-Dade County Manager Geroge Burgess," the Miami New Times reports.
Both people in the newsroom and that work for Miami-Dade County are concerned about the move, with one Herald reporter saying he felt "jilted" and a county official saying the move "makes me very suspect."
And the Tacoma News Tribune is cutting 18 more employees, the newspaper's publisher told his staff Sept. 24. Just one of the 18 employees will be laid off; 17 will be offered buyouts. The newspaper cut 82 staffers in July. During this round of layoffs, just six of the 18 come from the editorial staff and just four are reporters.
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Longtime Red Sox beat reporter leaves Providence Journal
Post-Dispatch to reduce Washington Bureau to one after election
Twenty seven Ombudsmen cut in the past year
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Providence Journal to cut entire part-time staff
All of the Providence Journal's part-time staff members will be cut along with five-full time staffers, the Providence Newspaper Guild announced Sept. 24. No employees from the advertising department will be cut.
The Journal's company A.H. Belo, which also own the Dallas Morning News, has offered severance packages of 1.25 weeks of pay for every year of employment, with up to 30 years. Staffers who have worked beyond 30 years can earn double.
Belo hopes the cuts at the Journal, the News and also The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., will save the company nearly $30 million this year. The company had announced Sept. 5 that 413 employees companywide had taken voluntary buyouts. Of that amount, 23 were accepted at the Journal before the 30 were cut Sept. 24.
Belo is one of many newpaper companies that have had to undergo massive layoffs. Most recently the McClatchy Co. laid off 20 percent of its workforce in order to help ease its nearly $4 billion debt. It was also announced this month that another 1,150 McClatchy employees would be laid off.
The Journal is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island and has won four Pulitzer Prizes.
Read the Providence Newspaper Guild's announcement here for more details on the cuts.
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New York Sun editor mum on paper's future
SF Chronicle book editor take buyout
Press threatens to boycott covering Palin because of access issues
The Journal's company A.H. Belo, which also own the Dallas Morning News, has offered severance packages of 1.25 weeks of pay for every year of employment, with up to 30 years. Staffers who have worked beyond 30 years can earn double.
Belo hopes the cuts at the Journal, the News and also The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., will save the company nearly $30 million this year. The company had announced Sept. 5 that 413 employees companywide had taken voluntary buyouts. Of that amount, 23 were accepted at the Journal before the 30 were cut Sept. 24.
Belo is one of many newpaper companies that have had to undergo massive layoffs. Most recently the McClatchy Co. laid off 20 percent of its workforce in order to help ease its nearly $4 billion debt. It was also announced this month that another 1,150 McClatchy employees would be laid off.
The Journal is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island and has won four Pulitzer Prizes.
Read the Providence Newspaper Guild's announcement here for more details on the cuts.
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New York Sun editor mum on paper's future
SF Chronicle book editor take buyout
Press threatens to boycott covering Palin because of access issues
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tribune to reveal redesign
The Chicago Tribune will debut its new redesign next week, a slickly-designed magazine-style layout that offers readers fewer stories and bigger graphics.
The new redesign will also reduce the paper to three sections. The front section will have all local, national, foreign and business news. Reports have said the paper will have a 50-50 ratio of ads to newsprint, but with larger graphics and photos, there will be less stories.
There were prototypes of the proposed redesign that had surfaced on the Internet with the word "Trib" taking up nearly a third of the front page. The redesign that surfaced in recent days is less dramatic.
The redesign comes after plummeting ad revenue and high costs of newsprint that many newspaper companies, especially Tribune Co. which owns its namesake Chicago daily newspaper, have resorted to redesigns along with buyouts and layoffs to save money.
Other Tribune Co. newspapers that have undergone redesigns include the Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Baltimore Sun.
See the new redesign here.
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Chicago Tribune names new publisher
Oregonian reports sharp drop in advertising revenue
McCain aide bashes New York Times, says paper is a "pro-Obama advocacy organization"
The new redesign will also reduce the paper to three sections. The front section will have all local, national, foreign and business news. Reports have said the paper will have a 50-50 ratio of ads to newsprint, but with larger graphics and photos, there will be less stories.
There were prototypes of the proposed redesign that had surfaced on the Internet with the word "Trib" taking up nearly a third of the front page. The redesign that surfaced in recent days is less dramatic.
The redesign comes after plummeting ad revenue and high costs of newsprint that many newspaper companies, especially Tribune Co. which owns its namesake Chicago daily newspaper, have resorted to redesigns along with buyouts and layoffs to save money.
Other Tribune Co. newspapers that have undergone redesigns include the Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Baltimore Sun.
See the new redesign here.
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Chicago Tribune names new publisher
Oregonian reports sharp drop in advertising revenue
McCain aide bashes New York Times, says paper is a "pro-Obama advocacy organization"
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Milwaukee journalist: Print journalism may die
Print newspapers in their current form may soon expire, which is not certainly news itself, but Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter William Glauber expounded on this topic during a presentation Sept. 15.
The presentation titled "The Past, Present and Future of Journalism" focused on the decline of print journalism and how the primary factor that newspapers are competiting with is not each other, but people's time.
"William brought up a good point: Americans today won’t walk to the end of the curb to get their news, but would prefer to look online," said Elisabethtown College sophomore Dillon Gaul. "He confirmed my understanding that print media is heading down the tubes because of the Internet."
Glauber said future generations will shape the new form of print journalism, whatever it may be.
“You ultimately will decide the fate of American journalism,” he said, “by your reading habits, buying habits and by your interest or lack of interest in the civic life of your community, your country.”
Read more about Glauber's speech here.
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ABC News lays off "handful" of staffers
Charlotte weekly becomes online-only product
Deluth News Tribune lays off eight
The presentation titled "The Past, Present and Future of Journalism" focused on the decline of print journalism and how the primary factor that newspapers are competiting with is not each other, but people's time.
"William brought up a good point: Americans today won’t walk to the end of the curb to get their news, but would prefer to look online," said Elisabethtown College sophomore Dillon Gaul. "He confirmed my understanding that print media is heading down the tubes because of the Internet."
Glauber said future generations will shape the new form of print journalism, whatever it may be.
“You ultimately will decide the fate of American journalism,” he said, “by your reading habits, buying habits and by your interest or lack of interest in the civic life of your community, your country.”
Read more about Glauber's speech here.
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ABC News lays off "handful" of staffers
Charlotte weekly becomes online-only product
Deluth News Tribune lays off eight
Friday, September 19, 2008
Daily News loses 25 to buyouts
The New York Daily News, a tabloid in New York City with a circulation of nearly 800,000 in 2006 making it one of the top ten largest in the country, has lost 25 of its employees to buyouts, the New York Post reported Sept. 19.
The names of those who accepted the buyout were not released, but since the goal of 25 employees was met, there will be no layoffs.
Expected to depart, though, are a few top staffers including award-winning photographer Michael Appleton, drama critic Howard Kissel, Tamer El-Ghobashy who covered Hurricane Katrina for the News, and editorial writer Karen Zautyk, according to a media column in the New York Post.
The Daily News competes with two other large tabloid dailies in New York City: Newsday and the New York Post. Newsday was bought by Cablevision in May of 2008 while the Post remains in the control of Rupert Murdoch, who also bought the Wall Street Journal in 2007.
The Boston Globe also reported that the News is going to get rid of its religion column by former New York Times writer Ari Goldman.
Read more about the layoffs at the Daily News here.
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New York Times stock improves because of online advertising revenue growth
Former LA Times environmental reporter becomes editor of Environmental Health News
Boston Herald reaches deal with teamsters to print paper off site
The names of those who accepted the buyout were not released, but since the goal of 25 employees was met, there will be no layoffs.
Expected to depart, though, are a few top staffers including award-winning photographer Michael Appleton, drama critic Howard Kissel, Tamer El-Ghobashy who covered Hurricane Katrina for the News, and editorial writer Karen Zautyk, according to a media column in the New York Post.
The Daily News competes with two other large tabloid dailies in New York City: Newsday and the New York Post. Newsday was bought by Cablevision in May of 2008 while the Post remains in the control of Rupert Murdoch, who also bought the Wall Street Journal in 2007.
The Boston Globe also reported that the News is going to get rid of its religion column by former New York Times writer Ari Goldman.
Read more about the layoffs at the Daily News here.
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New York Times stock improves because of online advertising revenue growth
Former LA Times environmental reporter becomes editor of Environmental Health News
Boston Herald reaches deal with teamsters to print paper off site
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
LA Times reporters sue owner
Six former and current reporters for the LA Times filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 16 against Sam Zell, the real estate mogul and owner of the Tribune Company, stating he has damaged the reputation of the Times as well as his company.
Zell, who took over the Tribune Company last December, has been vilified by members of the Times for his handling of the Times. More than 1,000 jobs have been eliminated since he took control of the newspaper, which is the fourth largest newspaper in the USA with a 2006 circulation of 1,231,318.
Read the complaint on behalf of the reporters here.
The Tribune Company released this statement Wednesday: "The lawsuit filed yesterday is filled with frivolous and unfounded allegations…The media industry is in crisis, the advertising environment is extremely difficult and the economy is in turmoil. The overwhelming majority of our employees have taken up the challenge — they are working hard [and] leading by example…"
The company is the largest employee-owned media company in America but it is currently $12.5 billion in debt.
Read more about the lawsuit here.
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Former Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist will not join Tribune
Famous comic strip creator fears for newspapers' future
Seattle PI loses pair of top technology reporters
Zell, who took over the Tribune Company last December, has been vilified by members of the Times for his handling of the Times. More than 1,000 jobs have been eliminated since he took control of the newspaper, which is the fourth largest newspaper in the USA with a 2006 circulation of 1,231,318.
Read the complaint on behalf of the reporters here.
The Tribune Company released this statement Wednesday: "The lawsuit filed yesterday is filled with frivolous and unfounded allegations…The media industry is in crisis, the advertising environment is extremely difficult and the economy is in turmoil. The overwhelming majority of our employees have taken up the challenge — they are working hard [and] leading by example…"
The company is the largest employee-owned media company in America but it is currently $12.5 billion in debt.
Read more about the lawsuit here.
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Former Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist will not join Tribune
Famous comic strip creator fears for newspapers' future
Seattle PI loses pair of top technology reporters
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