New publisher: Atlanta Journal-Constitution losing $1 million per ... WEEK

There's definitely something to that, hondo. But let's remember how much the paper has cut back within the past two years ...

- Eliminated delivery outside of the nine-county metro area. You can't even buy an AJC more than 60 miles from the city anymore (in many areas, it cuts off much sooner than that). You used to be able to get the first edition well into Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and South Carolina.
- Eliminated all bureau editions in surrounding counties. In a two-year period, went from having weekly or daily bureau editions in all metro counties to having zero bureaus in any county. They've basically abandoned coverage of the southern 'burbs, along with Rockdale County to the east. And the readers in Gwinnett, Cobb and Cherokee County have their own daily paper they can get. There's always been a perception that the AJC undercovers DeKalb County, and these changes haven't helped that at all. DeKalb readers, by and large, feel abandoned by the AJC.
- Plenty of layoffs, cutbacks in news hole, reduction in newsprint, etc.

Your point is well-taken, hondo, and I think you're right. But I also think what you said would have been much more right 5 years ago. Today, the product has taken such a hit that it's not nearly as easy a sell as it should be. I would think that if Cox had the stones to really invest in getting the paper back on solid footing, advertising dollars would follow.

 

Shifty, What still baffles me, especially when considering all of the above, is the new printers that they just switched over to this month. If they knew they were hurting so terribly, enough to cut the coverage, jobs and availability of the paper, why would they spend so much? The front page still isn't that colorful, not like USA Today or anything. Some of the things in color do look a little better, but not that much. It just frustrates me that the cost of ink for colored comics seven days a week could have paid some salaries.

 

From what I can gather, they've been talking about these new printers for awhile and how they needed to upgrade, etc. But yeah, it certainly has the stink of an unnecessary expense that could have been put toward improving the product or, well, just keeping the product at the level it was.

 

I'm just really upset right now, because I had a friend working at the warehouse that is closing. It's her second job, which is also where she gets her insurance. She's diabetic and has two autistic sons. The father of the sons refuses to divorce her (he doesn't want to pay child support) and she can't afford the costs she'd endure to fight him for the divorce. She's really kind of screwed right now.

 

Lot of people hurting. We see it so much in this industry, but other industries are feeling it, too.