BANG you're dead

[rpmmutant]

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18740021

Scroll down to the part where 120 jobs out of 1,500 are being cut.

 

[MileHigh]

The gang that can't shoot straight ... or, hell, can't even shoot.

Just another way to try to free up more money to buy Freedom on the backs of journalists and the thrashing of once-proud publications.

 

[Spartan Squad]

This is a sad day. There are a lot of proud papers up there that are being consolidated. From what I'm reading from a couple of guys I went to college with who now work up there, this is the final death nail of the old ANG papers. Sounds like the prep sports coverage is going away. There's a line in the story about expanded pro and college coverage. There are a lot of good schools up there, particularly De La Salle that has received national attention. It could be that those who do prep sports will see the ax, on top of those whose positions are getting consolidated.

 

[HanSenSE]

Unless you go to a LA Times-like model where most of your preps is on the web, how do you not cover high school sports?

Notice no word, either, on San Jose, Santa Cruz and Monterey.

 

[Spartan Squad]

Unless you go to a LA Times-like model where most of your preps is on the web, how do you not cover high school sports?

Notice no word, either, on San Jose, Santa Cruz and Monterey.

San Jose is being left alone, just the San Mateo County Times is getting folded under the umbrella of the Merc. I hope the Sentinel and the Herald are going to be left alone in this mess.

 

[podunk press]

Every time this happens, it makes me feel like what we do has no value at all.

It's difficult to stomach.

 

[MileHigh]

And yet, it keeps happening, year after year, quarter after quarter.

 

[HanSenSE]

Unless you go to a LA Times-like model where most of your preps is on the web, how do you not cover high school sports?

Notice no word, either, on San Jose, Santa Cruz and Monterey.

San Jose is being left alone, just the San Mateo County Times is getting folded under the umbrella of the Merc. I hope the Sentinel and the Herald are going to be left alone in this mess.

Agreed. The one thing that might save Monterey is that they face competition from the Salinas Californian ... well, as much competiton as there can be between two papers stripped bare by Gannett and Deano. As for Santa Cruz, well, you want to say they've carved out a unique spot in their market, but, hell, you could say that about all the dearly departed.

 

[fossywriter8]

Unless you go to a LA Times-like model where most of your preps is on the web, how do you not cover high school sports?

Usually a great front office decision: Cut local coverage, then wonder why subscriptions, and eventually ads, plummet.

 

[dirtybird]

Unless you go to a LA Times-like model where most of your preps is on the web, how do you not cover high school sports?

Notice no word, either, on San Jose, Santa Cruz and Monterey.

Well the SF Chronicle already basically punted all their preps coverage. Any of it comes from a former staffer who now works at MaxPreps.

Awesome that they say there will be more college and pro news... just as long as they neither produce nor pay for it.

Just ****ing atrocious.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

And of course, the lead paragraph is the same-old bull**** of corporate buzzwords, followed by the obligatory "Yeah, we're cutting a lot, but dammit, we're going to be even better!" crappy line.

 

[steveu]

Do more with less! Do more with less!! Every time I hear that line I could scream.

I kind of saw something like this coming. I'd think about "what if all these papers were folded under one name" and think naaa, they wouldn't do that. (rollseyes)

 

[Monday Morning Sportswriter]

The consolidated masthead thing worked great when Gannett Suburban Newspapers became the Journal News.

 

[KJIM]

"The line-up of comics, which has varied from paper to paper, will become more uniform and will contain the most popular comics as determined by a recent poll of readers."


This will be the only thing the readers will care about.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I know how that works, because it happened at the Herald. They have the poll, then throw the results away and cancel the most expensive comic strips.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

I know how that works, because it happened at the Herald. They have the poll, then throw the results away and cancel the most expensive comic strips.

Further details?

 

[I Should Coco]

That "news story" is depressing as hell.

This paragraph toward the end -- below the burried lede about job cuts -- really shows where the priorities are:

Regarding new digital initiatives, Tully pointed to the recent launch of the TapIn Bay Area iPad application, which easily shows users what is going on in their neighborhood and across the Bay Area, including events, restaurants, deals, a business directory, and local news.

Note the order of "what's going on" in your neighborhood ...

 

[LWillhite]

The third graf might be my favorite

The rebranding includes numerous enhancements plus an emphasis on multimedia content delivery that will continue to enlighten and entertain readers while providing new opportunities for advertisers to engage readers.

Enhancements
Emphasis
Enlighten
Entertain
Engage

And how can they provide such improved greatness?

Employees (fewer)

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Ben, in 2003 or so the Herald had a reader poll on comics. I'm a comics fan, so I was curious about the results, and was told firmly by management said results were confidential and no employee's business. Then about six months later, about five strips were canceled, including "Cathy," which we knew damn well was one of the MOST popular strips. A really good guy assistant managing editor told me it had all been about the money from the jump.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Normally I would expect a management to change its acronym from Bay Area News Group (BANG) to something like Northern California News Group (NCNG) just to avoid headlines like "BANG FIRES MORE STAFF".

But this is Singleton so the acronym may be a point of pride.