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Mar

23

Updatex2: More debunking of the 247 Wallstreet “dead or digi-only” list


Read this post for background but the gist is that an outlet that provides news articles to TIME.com listed The Plain Dealer as one of the top ten newspapers the author was speculating would go dark or digi-only by the end of 2009.  The PD’s publisher, Terry Egger, wasn’t buying.

Jay Rosen apprised me today of this follow-up post at the blog, Reflections of a Newsosaur called, About that newspaper “doomsday” list.  The Newsosaur blog is penned by Alan Mutter, who “began his career as a newspaper columnist and editor in Chicago, starting at the Chicago Daily News and later rising to City Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1984, he became the No. 2 editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. He left the newspaper business in 1988 to join InterMedia Partners, a start-up company that within five years became one of the 12 largest cable-TV companies in the U.S.”

About the PD’s appearance on that list, Mutter says,

…Although Doug [A. McIntyre at 24/7 Wall St., the author of the list which appeared on TIME.com because 24/7 provides content to TIME.com] is a friend whose ordinarily thoughtful work I have cited on occasion, there is no hard data or deep analysis to support his findings.

Doug gives no evidence why the Plain Dealer is any more endangered than any of the other newspapers published by its parent, Advance Publications. Or why the Miami and Fort Worth papers are more at risk than some of the other McClatchy titles.

In other words, Mutter too seems to feel that the demise of these papers is greatly exaggerated.

UPDATE: Maybe not so fast. Expecially since I noticed the Newhouse connection re: Ann Arbor and that’s mentioned in the cleveland.com post as of 7:20pm this evening.

From the PD’s cleveland.com blog in the Business section:

The Plain Dealer will require non-union employees to take pay cuts and 10-day furloughs, in an attempt to cut costs but preserve jobs and continue to print seven days a week.

During meetings with employees Monday, Publisher and President Terrance C. Z. Egger announced that full-time, non-union employees must take 10 days of unpaid leave between April 20 and Oct. 4.

Full-time and part-time non-union employees will see their first $50,000 of pay cut by 8 percent and any additional pay reduced by 10 percent as of June 1.

The furloughs involve 370 employees. Pay cuts will affect about 450 of the Plain Dealer’s 1,055 workers.

The newspaper also is evaluating its employee benefits packages and could make changes this summer.

There’s a lot more there to read, and plenty of comments.

Hattip Blogger Interrupted and Keeler Political Report.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:41 pm March 23rd, 2009 in Blogging, Cleveland+, Media, Writing 

Comments

2 Responses to “Updatex2: More debunking of the 247 Wallstreet “dead or digi-only” list”

  1. 1 Modern Esquire on March 23rd, 2009 4:52 pm

    Dear Jill-who-isn’t-blogging-for now… :) ,

    Is saying “I don’t see why these particular papers would be dying quicker than others” really the equivalent of saying that these papers are not dying?

  2. 2 redhorse on March 23rd, 2009 8:25 pm

    Now, ME, you can’t go and point out the faulty underpinnings of an otherwise persuasive argument. Just who do you think you are? :)

    Nothing to see at the PD, just forced furloughs and pay reductions, along with possible reduction in benefits. All’s rosy in that fancy glass house of theirs.

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