Archived material Access restricted Article
Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Fri 09/22/2006 View Thu 09/21/2006 View Wed 09/20/2006 View Tue 09/19/2006 View Mon 09/18/2006 View Sun 09/17/2006 View Sat 09/16/2006
1
2006-09-22 Home Front: Culture Wars
New York Times forecasts sharply lower quarterly earnings
Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.
Posted by Frank G 2006-09-22 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Well, even if the management there doesn't understand morals, sedition, or treason, then perhaps they'll understand it when their bonuses take a nosedive, they get fired, and nobody but Hugo Chavez will hire them.
Posted by gorb 2006-09-22 02:37||   2006-09-22 02:37|| Front Page Top

#2 This is news?

Chrichton predicted all of this 13 years ago in a speech he made at some press club. The reactionary, imagination-less tranzi mandarins in the industry laughed hard, but aren't laughing now.
Posted by no mo uro 2006-09-22 05:46||   2006-09-22 05:46|| Front Page Top

#3 I like it, they'll understand getting hit in the wallet.

Now the second part of their education is to understand just why they got hit in the wallet, this is still beyond their comprehension.
Posted by Redneck Jim 2006-09-22 06:25||   2006-09-22 06:25|| Front Page Top

#4 Goodbye Punks.
Posted by newc">newc  2006-09-22 06:26||   2006-09-22 06:26|| Front Page Top

#5 I would not wish death on anyone.

Still, if that's the only way you can get the message....

Maybe there will be one glimmer of understanding, as the last guy turns out the lights...
Posted by Bobby 2006-09-22 06:54||   2006-09-22 06:54|| Front Page Top

#6 Everything rises and falls on leadership. Until the management of the NYT is swept away and replaced with folks with at least some semblance of fairness, balance and perspective, there is no hope for the Grey Lady.

I for one, would like to see the NYT establish a reputation for good solid journalistic integrity---and a few drops of patriotism mixed in wouldn't hurt. A great city needs and deserves a great newspaper. The NYT has damaged America, but especially the people of New York.
Posted by mcsegeek1 2006-09-22 08:35||   2006-09-22 08:35|| Front Page Top

#7 A Metro section from the WSJ would be devastating.
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-09-22 08:40||   2006-09-22 08:40|| Front Page Top

#8 This is so depressing...
Manolo! To the Hamptons! Don't spare the horsepower!
Posted by Pinchy 2006-09-22 08:45||   2006-09-22 08:45|| Front Page Top

#9 It appears the family which dominates the control of the paper are trying to drive out other investors to establish a privately held corporation. One tactic is to poison the well. As the value plummets, the other bail. However, the tainting of the product means that it will continue to plummet unless radical action is take. In the NYT’s case, that would mean a wholesale slaughter of the entire editorial and management staff. In either case, destruction by declining revenues with resultant staggered layoffs or “la grande coup” in the reshuffling, the minions who live and breath the atmosphere of hate and loathing they have feed upon for these years since 9/11 will get their justice. I’m sure jobs a plenty await them in other declining dead tree venues, hmmm no. In tenured filled universities, hmmm no. In manning the battalions of hacks directly for the ever distant DNC, hmmm no. Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!
Posted by Thereger Chosing1087 2006-09-22 08:56||   2006-09-22 08:56|| Front Page Top

#10 Prices of NYT common stock is about $22.8 pre market opening. It was about $40 two years ago.

Many other print media companies are doing poorly but generally not a poorly.
Posted by mhw 2006-09-22 09:11|| http://hypocrisy-incorporated.blogspot.com/]">[http://hypocrisy-incorporated.blogspot.com/]  2006-09-22 09:11|| Front Page Top

#11 The Times is also going to sell their Broadcast Media Group, which accounted for about 4% of their profits. It includes WNEP in Scranton, PA, which has dominated the ratings for local news for more than a decade. The Times paid more than $40 million just for WNEP sometime in the '80s. WNEP is immensely profitable, and I assume the other stations they're selling make money too. The fact that the Times is shedding money-making stations doesn't bode well for the company's future.
Posted by growler">growler  2006-09-22 11:00||   2006-09-22 11:00|| Front Page Top

#12 It appears the family which dominates the control of the paper are trying to drive out other investors to establish a privately held corporation.

This strikes me as one of those explanations that gets repeated often enough that people accept it is true. I understand the concept of taking a hit so that you can buy back your stock at cheap prices - however this is more like sinking your ship so that you can own it. It makes no sense on any level.

More likely, they have been buying back their stock for years to keep their investors from realizing how badly it was performing and now it is so far beyond repair that it is going to freefall. JMHO.
Posted by Crurt Sneth8456 2006-09-22 11:48||   2006-09-22 11:48|| Front Page Top

#13 
Newspapers will not become profitable by becoming "balanced". People don't get news from newspapers, they get it from radio, TV and the internet. People who read newspapers are more interested in depth and perspective regarding events. The more successful newspapers are those appealing to large target markets - NYT to culturally and political liberals nationally, WSJ to business people, etc. However, the cost structures of all papers are too high, primarily due to unionization of the entire workforce (like GM and Ford, the print industry still has defined benefit pension plans and provide medical benefits for retirees).

Eli Broad was on TV the other morning and discussed his attempt to buy the LA Times. He acknowledged that there was no money to be made, but that he wanted to buy it for "civic" reasons.

The icons of the newspaper world will probably be propped up by the Broads of the world trying to keep their perspective on events alive. They will, however, eventually have to deal with the cost side.

The remainder will probably be locally focused, but will either be restructured to reduce costs (with a cheaper workforce and reduced benefits) or will go bankrupt.



Posted by DoDo 2006-09-22 12:00||   2006-09-22 12:00|| Front Page Top

#14 hmmm. I'm not sure I agree. I've lived in several different cities and in just about all of them, the papers began to lose their market share about the time that they refused to report anything but AP propaganda. It makes all but their liberal niche readers mad and they cancel. Once they cancel - they find other sources for their news. And there are plenty of other places to go. Nobody wants to pay to get annoyed with their cup of coffee in the morning.
Posted by anon 2006-09-22 16:22||   2006-09-22 16:22|| Front Page Top

#15 What were 7 on Sunday are now 2 - and I'm getting tired of the St. Pete Times.
Posted by 6 2006-09-22 18:41||   2006-09-22 18:41|| Front Page Top

#16 IMO while biased reporting has hurt the NYT and similar papers, the real KILLER has been the Internet. Not only as an alternate source for news (including their own sites) but especially for advertising. Robinson is right about that.

Craig's List, eBay, online ordering ... all of these have cut deeply into print advertising, which is what really pays most of the bills at papers. And that's not going to change for them. They're dead in their current form, at least.
Posted by lotp 2006-09-22 18:49||   2006-09-22 18:49|| Front Page Top

#17 DoDo has it - sorta. Aside from the very large newspapers, the rest may be better off ditching the syndicated and AP-stuff and concentrating on their local market.
Posted by Pappy 2006-09-22 22:01||   2006-09-22 22:01|| Front Page Top

19:43 ex-lib
23:48 Zenster
23:39 Joe of the Jungle
23:39 Texas Redneck
23:26 Swamp Blondie
23:25 Texas Redneck
23:25 Lone Ranger
23:17 Flomoter Ulolush5791
23:14 CrazyFool
23:14 bombay
23:02 Zenster
23:00 Joe of the Jungle
23:00 Zenster
22:57 Zenster
22:52 FOTSGreg
22:50 MagnonMan
22:49 MagnonMan
22:49 Zenster
22:45 Zenster
22:43 FOTSGreg
22:39 Zenster
22:38 FOTSGreg
22:34 Zenster
22:31 49 Pan









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com