Harrisburg Patriot-News to publish three times a week

Yet another newspaper choosing to commit slow seppuku.

Will the last viable newspaper in this country please turn out the light when you leave? Thanks.

And . . .

I understand the outpouring of empathy/sympathy/whatever label you want to put on it for employees of this newspaper. But my shock at the decisions of ownership, and my empathy for individuals who have chosen to remain in a newspaper career while knowing the risks, have both unfortunately lessened greatly in recent years.

Some of us have been urging anyone who would listen to find an escape hatch from newspapers for a long time now. There are many who responded to such entreaties with insults and cries that they were happy TODAY.

Well, tomorrow has come. And it sucks. The next day won't be so good either.

I'm already dreading the next thread like this one. The dominoes are picking up speed. Anyone who continues to choose a newspaper career is playing Russian Roulette.

To be honest, if it weren't for some luck and timely decisions, I'd be right there with you all. And I hope that those who remain, find new opportunities. You can do something else. You don't necessarily have to be shackled to this life.

Best of luck to all.

 

Note who the owner of the PA group, NOLA and the Alabama group is. Advance Publications. Suits who wouldnt have a clue if it bit them in the nads and said here I am.

 

Shot, good luck to you.

I was shocked to hear about the Syracuse paper. I've worked for a competing shop of theirs for over a decade, and I can't decide if this is good news or bad for us.

Honestly, though it's bad new for all of us in the long run. The knife just twisted a bit more today.

 

Yeah, I would expect this to become the norm very soon. I don't know if I see the bigger papers doing it, but Harrisburg isn't small by any stretch, neither is Birmingham and neither is the Times-Picayune.

For most of these papers, it's the smart way to do business.

 

In light of this news, I'm going to assume that the current sports writer vacancy will not be filled.

 

In Alabama, they claimed that the number of positions lost would be minimal. There logic was to fire an assload of people, then rehire new, cheaper people to flesh out the operation. That's not to say they didn't get some good talent, but the whole thing was a transparent lie.

Harrisburg's one saving grace is I don't think they have another sister paper nearby to combine with and whack headcount even further.

 

This! Thank you MightyMouse.

 

It's probably time to consider the idea that there is no such model.

If it hasn't happened by now, maybe there is no way to "generate the needed revenue on an all-digital platform".

 

I think she should angle for a book contract. A good book needs to be written on the Penn State scandal.

 

Sure, but that takes care of, what? Two years of a 40-year career? The number of people who survive on book contracts alone, particularly non-fiction book contracts, is infinitesimal.

 

Ditto this:

And this:

Good luck, y'all.

 

While I definitely understand the anxiety of anybody on staff in Harrisburg or Syracuse, I think Ganim makes some good points regarding how news and enterprise are digested now. If that's true, I think the plan makes sense. Risky? Sure. But something has to be done.