Ann Arbor

The student newspaper IS the Daily. I wonder if they start running foreclosure notices and become the paper of record in AA.

 

One of the Detroit papers will be gone by fall.

 

Yeah but which one. Everyone always said it would be the news, but the Freep is the one already scaling back.

 

Why is that, Jim?

And given what you put into that place, I'd of thought you would have passed anger days ago.

 

Maybe Jim is right? He doesn't have to be angry, left on his own terms.

 

There are 200 or so employees at the A2 News. I'd guess fewer than 30 have anything resembling the skills the new site is looking for, i.e. the ability to produce content for a website with an emphasis on new media skills.

Of those 30, some will have options, some won't want to work for the money they're offering, some will be too pissed off to sign up for another tour with this company, and some won't be desired by the new management for reasons other than skill.

I expect they'll skim off between 6 and 12 writers who they view as really fitting their needs and giving them local connections, and then fill a lot of spots with people who are either from a more edgy Internet background or are young and cheap. Or both.

As for anger ... I'm not usually an angry person, so I guess that's a big part of it.

Edited to add: Little second screen name misstep there, but not much of a secret to most folks on the site.

 

Some cities are required to run ads for various things (like bankruptcies, meetings, bids for construction work) in the local paper. If there's not a paper, what does the town do then?

 

who owns ann arbor?
there has to be a market for the printed word there. There's no way people will subscribe to it online or they'll sell enough ads to make it viable online.

 

It doesn't matter whether there's a market. It matters whether there's anyone willing to supply at the prices people are willing to pay.

 

It's a way for Newhouse to go to cheap salaries in Ann Arbor. They are asking people to do more things and paid less. And doesn't Newhouse guarantee no layoffs? But it doesn't apply if the paper stops publishing.

And this is a privately held company that I don't think has much debt.

 

Fairly recently the Ann Arbor Chronicle was started as an online-only type newspaper. I haven't really read it much or heard how received or well known it was, though. Hell, it may really only be nothing more than a glorified blog.


Anyway, Like a couple of others who have posted on here, I got my start at this paper. Some good memories and people were/are there.

 

Seriously? Do you ever read anything? Gannett owns 95% of the JOA now. Do you really think after dumping the News to take the Free Press instead three years ago it would now keep open the paper it didn't want? Also, what do you mean about scaling back? Both papers are doing the three-day home delivery plan if that's what you're talking about. The News' circulation has been dropping way faster than the Free Press and I'm sure that'll continue to be the case.