Takedown of OC Register owner Aaron Kushner

Sad, but I'm sure there are plenty of people ready and willing to say "I told you so."

http://www.ocweekly.com/2014-06-26/news/aaron-kushner-orange-county-register-financial-crisis/

 

Wicked art, too ...

 

What's with the "Nice Shirt; Smug Mug" cutline on the first photo?

 

First they came for the massage ads, and I said nothing.

This story shows as much as anything what suckers journalists can be. Nobody should have believed his shit from Day 1 and yet everyone is shocked that it didn't work out.

 

I still think this could have worked out had he not extended himself too thin. It was one thing to do this with a single paper. To try and expand the empire across Southern California?

I'm not 100 percent cynical about this. Hey, at least someone tried something different. It ended up with the same result (Layoffs! Space cuts! Off with the heads!) but it was an experiment.

EDIT: Oh, and the hard paywall was a joke, as was charging readers the same amount of money to read the e-replica as if you lived in the area. Most companies offer the e-edition at a reduced price (even Gannett, which charges $10 a month at a lot of its properties as opposed to $20-25 a month for the print product and full digital).

 

So, when does the Simers to the LA Daily News or ESPN LA rumor start?

 

I don't think anybody was a sucker. I don't think anyone totally believed. I don't think everyone (or anyone, for that matter) is shocked that it didn't work out.

I think people were wishful, and genuinely hopeful. And now they're saddened.

 

So should anyone believe anything after the failed JRC/DFM/Thunderdome and OCR debacles?

Whole lot of hot air and promises and neither lasted a year.

 

Sure. If you want money and job security, go into medicine. Don't even have to become an MD. Nursing, medical coding, pharmacy, MRI technician, physical therapy, dentistry, dental hygiene. . . .

Anything else, all bets are off.

 

Just curious. How did it read at the height of staffing? Like the second coming of the Chandler LA Times?

 

Medical coding seems to be one of those fields in which a lot of people have been going to school for, only to find that there aren't jobs.

The others, though, you are right.