Summer, 2008: The Smell of “Burning Furniture”

Summertime and the livin’ is far from easy. Now that we’re past Memorial Day, let’s speculate on the summer that will be. It’s a long time til Labor Day for the news industry. We’ve seen Rupert Murdoch, ironically drawing stark attention to his own advanced age ...

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“In Six Months, They’ll All Be Idiots, Too”

An old pro recently asked, “Is there anything newspapers can do to turn it around at this point?, that’s what my friends are asking me.” My reply, well, today, no, if you mean turning the business back up, on a dime. There’s a bright future out there, earned by doing a ...

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Is it Time for the Times to Get Out of Local Paper Business?

You can feel the walls closing in at the new, light-filled Times building off Times Square. Consider: —America’s (the world’s?) largest newsroom is getting a major haircut. Of the current 1300 jobs, 100 will be gone soon, victim of the increasingly familiar buyout/layoff ...

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