Walk-out in North Carolina

To me, ColbertNation, that goes without saying. As heavily principled as this profession is, as a whole, it's nice to see some people stand behind their beliefs at almost any cost.

It may not be something many of them can necessarily afford. But Mount Airy is the type of place where a lot of those people probably know one another, aren't using the place to build clips and move, and - as corny as it sounds - are in it together.

I worked at one of those type of papers. It wasn't journalism at its finest - far from it - but there were some of the most quality people there one could ever hope to meet.

As much as many on this board blast publishers - most of them justifiably so - it's refreshing as all get out to see a publisher stand with his other brave employees on the outside looking in. Maybe that makes me gullible in the eyes of many, but that single gesture spoke volumes.

 

I couldn't agree more. I'm blessed to have a fantastic publisher now (family-owned paper and as she says, 'I'll be damned if I ever sell the paper), and I've only had one other publisher before who I respected. Too many of them either A.) Came up on the business side and don't have any respect for a quality print product. B.) Forgot where they came from and don't give a damn about a quality print product.

It's nice to see this publisher stand up for his people. One day, many years from now, I'd love to be a publisher. And if a company like Heartland came in and fired a good chunk of my staff, I couldn't walk in the next day and look those people who were left in the eyes. I'm glad to see the publisher in Mount Airy had the courage of his convictions.

Now what I'd really like to see: Those same people who walked start a newspaper in the same town as a competitor and bury Heartland's publication in the ground. Nothing against the folks left in Mount Airy. But when CNHI was buying newspapers like crazy, more than a few smaller paper staffs walked out, rented out buildings nearby and started new publications. I hope Mount Airy becomes a two-paper town.

 

Possibly as a weekly, but I can't imagine Mount Airy having the circulation potential or advertising base to support two dailies. I was actually surprised to find out Mount Airy had the one paper when I moved close to the area a few years ago.

 

Sure, it would start as a weekly. But you get enough of the folks from the paper that people in town respect, and they'll quickly boost advertising. Give it away for a year for free, write a column or front-page story about why the paper has started, and I guarantee a community like Mount Airy would rally around the product. Outsiders (Yankees, to boot!) come in and start firing people at a small-town newspaper? Who do you think Joe Reader is going to side with?

 

I guess it depends on what people are going to be interested in, the people or the name. A free weekly could work, but that would require a complete implosion on the part of the existing paper. Now from our perspective, that's happened (or it could very soon). But from the reader's perspective, so long as they still have the horoscopes or the obits or the Billy Graham column or whatever they want out of it, they'll stick with the paper they've gotten for years. Until that changes, their numbers won't take too bad a beating.

The bigger question is advertising. Can they support it? There's been an attempt at a weekly paper in the last 10-15 years, from my research, but it didn't last. I wouldn't be surprised (not knowning from shit about the area) if they consolidated the Mount Airy and Elkin papers.

 

I remember talking to one of the folks at the Elkin paper a few years back. I would think this is their golden opportunity to capsize Mt. Airy, kinda like I think the News & Observer will probably sink the Herald-Sun in Durham after Paxton botched that takeover.

 

Aren't Elkin and Mt. Airy owned by the same folks? I don't know the lay of Surry County, other than that it's in the mountains, so maybe it's hard for one daily to cover the whole county, but it sounds like they could do this whenever they wanted, and a sudden reduction in work force at Mt. Airy would be a hell of a catalyst.

 

Any word on how Heartland responded? Anyone hear about anything like this anywhere else? In my experience, this is the first I've heard of a walk-out, but I'm not the oldest gent here.

 

The Elkin and Mount Airy papers are linked at the Elkin sits, in addition to one in Yadkin County and another in Ashe County.

They'd be stupid to think they can cover more area after slashing and burning Mount Airy, then watching more walk out of there. But if Heartland is following the Bob Jelenic/Dean Singleton model of work slavery, it won't stop them from bullwhipping the last few survivors determined to weather the storm.

 

Hey, if we've lost Mayberry RFD, we've lost the whole damn country.

This industry just gets worse day by day.

 

I give my support and am proud to see people of principle are out there still. Good luck in your next jobs, and hopefully you'll find a place that respects you and your integrity.

 

at least at the Tribune, I know Heartland has hired several people back who were initially fired ...