Preaching to the choir: Why JRC went down in flames

[lapdog]

http://poynter.org/column.asp?id=123

Journal Register Company itself was delisted by the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year and its so-called "pinksheet" stock trades at a penny a share. Management wasn't talking about the closings, but the story is an open book on skinflint practices coming home to roost.

Whenever JRC bought a paper, it slashed news staff and cut salaries of those who remained. Advertiser service was nothing special either.

 

[SixToe]

Minor threadjack, possibly the earliest ever on a thread: Why is "itself" needed in the sentence? Why not just "Journal Register Company was delisted ..." and omit the word?

"Both" also is unnecessary almost all the time.

 

[slappy4428]

BYH just got a hard-on and has no idea why...

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I remember the AJR story on JRC, where Jelenic was asked about his paper's declining circulations. He scoffed at the reporter and claimed that the company 'didn't want circulation for circulation's sake.'

I bet they wish they had those readers back now.

 

[Gold]

From a business point of view, why would you buy the paper? You would be better off waiting for them to close, buying the presses at 10 cents on the dollar, and starting your own newspaper. In those communities, a twice-a-week print paper could probably do very well in tandem with a great Internet site.

 

[goneup]

The papers JRC has already announced it wants to sell don't include presses. The buyer gets a name and circulation list. And they're working-class areas, not likely to fall in love with a Web-only product.
New Haven, on the other hand, seems like a prize if a buyer can separate it from all the JRC bull**** and start from scratch. It's an awesome city just dying for a good paper. My resume is ready and waiting ...

 

[Gold]

The papers JRC has already announced it wants to sell don't include presses. The buyer gets a name and circulation list. And they're working-class areas, not likely to fall in love with a Web-only product.
New Haven, on the other hand, seems like a prize if a buyer can separate it from all the JRC bull**** and start from scratch. It's an awesome city just dying for a good paper. My resume is ready and waiting ...

If they don't sell the presses, they have nothing. And if they file for some sort of bankruptcy or receivership, that is the first asset they are going to look for.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

BYH just got a hard-on and has no idea why...

But at 1:41:44 p.m. he stopped worrying about it.

 

[slappy4428]

Nice...

 

[DanOregon]

I think most newspapers can trace their decline to forgetting what their product is/was. Too many managers think their business is making "profit" instead of the product that helps them deliver the profit.
I actually heard a publisher once state that our "product" was profit. I didn't get into the news business to make "profit," I wanted to serve a community and tell its stories. The "business" was a lot less fun and interesting after that. When the publisher dropped that bomb, I should have headed for the door right then and there.

 

[goneup]

The papers JRC has already announced it wants to sell don't include presses. The buyer gets a name and circulation list. And they're working-class areas, not likely to fall in love with a Web-only product.
New Haven, on the other hand, seems like a prize if a buyer can separate it from all the JRC bull**** and start from scratch. It's an awesome city just dying for a good paper. My resume is ready and waiting ...

If they don't sell the presses, they have nothing. And if they file for some sort of bankruptcy or receivership, that is the first asset they are going to look for.

They don't have presses at these two places (possibly more). They stopped printing at these shops a couple of years ago. So yeah, you buy the paper, you gotta find a way to print it. Nice business model, huh? Buy the joint, rape it, then decide you don't want it and drop it off in Nebraska.

 

[txsportsscribe]

Minor threadjack, possibly the earliest ever on a thread: Why is "itself" needed in the sentence? Why not just "Journal Register Company was delisted ..." and omit the word?

"Both" also is unnecessary almost all the time.

really, this is why you chose to threadjack? go figure.

 

[EStreetJoe]

The papers JRC has already announced it wants to sell don't include presses. The buyer gets a name and circulation list. And they're working-class areas, not likely to fall in love with a Web-only product.
New Haven, on the other hand, seems like a prize if a buyer can separate it from all the JRC bull**** and start from scratch. It's an awesome city just dying for a good paper. My resume is ready and waiting ...

Rumor has it the Trentonian is going to get rid of its presses and start printing an hour-plus away from the city come January. I wonder if getting rid of the presses is a sign the Trentonian is being prepped for sale.

 

[wicked]

Bob still is with us, right?

I know he's no longer CEO, but how much pull does he have with the current execs?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I would think Bob is still with the company, if only to still be able to call up a poor SE who's writing and designing the entire section to scream at him for mispelling some youth soccer kid's name wrong.

 

[Songbird]

He's still with us, but no longer with JRC.

 

[wicked]

I know he's no longer with the company formally, Xan, was just curious as to how much his imprint still was felt in Yardley.