Here's what I don't get ...

Here's the thing, Gator. What drives the economic engine of the paper is advertising. If the advertising revenue isn't there, it doesn't matter how many Pulitzer's you are winning or how many readers you have.

In this economy, a lot of companies have cut back on advertising. Even though the journalistic product may still be excellent and in demand, if the ad people are bringing in the money, everyone suffers. Just the way it is, unfortunately.

 

Bingo. Of course, on behalf of the newsroom, I'd like to mention that if the "editorial content" doesn't get people to subscribe or fork over 75 cents, then the ad reps have no way to make the sale.

But Mark's point is still on-the-money.

 

And one more thing to keep in mind, Gator. This trend of young people not reading the paper isn't new ... when I was back in the Midwest, I was looking for some background on the microfilm machine and found some editorial urging younger readers to subscribe because they would miss out on what's going on in their community, or some such spin. And this was from the 1960s.

Generally, people don't want to know about the "hyper local" news many mid-sized (or smaller) papers feature until they have kids and/or buy a house. And that's happening later and later in life for many folks.

 

Circulation numbers have dropped because newspapers lost their monopoly on information. From radio to TV to cable TV then to the Internet, the stranglehold on information has slowly been released. And, as stated, advertisers are using these other means of disseminating info to get their ads out.

Get your monopoly back, and newspapers will be fine.

 

Does any news organization in the country ever give out raises anymore? Does anybody out there not have furloughs? Does anybody else out there work somewhere where management tells you should be lucky you did not get a pay cut this year? This business is utterly disgraceful.

 

I've never been furloughed, and next week I've been told to expect my third raise in the last two years at my paper.

We've been told our paper is clearing profits well above expectations, and we've seen a lot of investments in the building and equipment in 2010.

It's rare, but there are pockets.

 

Awesome Mr. Stain. Good deal.
I am thinking many many news organizations are lying about the ol' profits. It's a good excuse to keep the lowly workers down.

 

I got two nice raises last year, but that was before a chain-wide freeze.

 

We've been in wage freezes for coming up on a year and a half. Of course, our union is negotiating a new deal to replace the one that expires next month so maybe a raise is on the way. But merit raises (which used to be in addition to the union raises) have gone the way of the cart and horse.

 

Says the guy who took a part-time job at McDonald's.

BTW I still get unionized wage increases, no furloughs but my sports department (six day a week daily) went from three to two. We write and do our own desking. No freelance budget either.

 

What about overtime, Gomer? Do your people have to eat the hours like at our sweat shop or do you fork out overtime?

 

They give overtime in lieu but the way time sheets are filled out is heavy handed. The result is I police my own hours and have cut back on coverage in a big way so that we avoid unpaid overtime. It sucks and we work like dogs but it is also fair.