Poll: What will be the next big newspaper to fold?

The question isn't whether the PI will fold. That's a done deal. It's whether the Seattle Times will make it. The Times is so deep in debt that it's not out of the realm that it goes bankrupt ... There will be a newspaper in Seattle, but it may not be owned by Frank Blethen down the road.

 

The difference being, of course, that death pools, the Mitchell Report and Britney's hair color have no effect on our livelihoods. Count me among those who question the need for such a thread.

 

I agree with what Mizzou Grad has stated here, no doubt. We're all in this together.

With that said, I wouldn't be surprised it it's one of the Detroit papers. Hard to think of a town/state that's in worse financial shape than Michigan. And those papers have baggage by the truckload.

 

Seattle looks like it will lead a domino parade of two-paper-markets dwindling to one-paper-markets. I wouldn't be buying green bananas in Detroit, SF, Philly or Twin Cities either.

 

I think the relative health of these newspapers is pretty vital information for anyone in this profession. It's not as if it's a pick'em game.

 

How is this "vital information"? Everyone knows these papers (and every other)are struggling badly. And it does strike me as a "pick-'em game." Which would be why many referred to the death pools here. It just bugs me when people throw crap out there like "The Podunk Times will be closed by the summer." If you know something, tell us. But you think someone who works at the Podunk Times wants to read speculation on that? They know their job's in danger. Don't rub it in.

 

If my shop were in danger of closing (other than in the generic sense that all of us our), I'd want to hear every last piece of speculation I could. But that's just me.

To each their own, I guess.

 

Well, if someone has legit info, I'm all for hearing it, too. But that doesn't appear to be the purpose of this thread. I know nobody's wishing for anything, but it's just not a game when people's jobs are at stake. That's all I'm saying.

 

It's going to be tough to fold a paper in a one-paper market. Sooner or later, the owners will have to realize that people will turn back in some way shape or form. Maybe they;ll learn to sell on the web.

 

Yeah, it's been established that the P-I is done in less than three weeks now, so, yeah, loser loser chicken dinner. And mizzou, you're bordering on a reputation for dancing on graves, dude.

Silvercharm is right, the Times is probably due for Chapter 11 very soon -- which doesn't necessarily mean they'll close, but they'll bust the union and reorganize somehow.

A no-newspaper scenario is actually more feasible in a major city, where production costs are higher and there are multiple other outlets -- free weeklies (in many cases very good ones), websites, multiple network TV affiliates -- where people at least assume they can get all their news. It's a lot trickier in Ames, Iowa, where even the main news might otherwise not get covered.

 

Dancing on graves? That's fucking bullshit. I watched the Rocky video with tears in my eyes and that thread and Mile High's posts choked me up several times.

Thursday night, I spoke to three friends who were impacted by the Rocky shutdown and over the course of each conversation, we started wondering which paper was next.

If you think I enjoy hearing about anybody losing their jobs you're fucking clueless.

 

Mizzou, why Cincinnati? What makes its situation different than any other Gannett paper (including Indianapolis and Louisville)?