At McClatchy Watch there’s more news of “the slow motion McClatchy train wreck.”
This time the news is the Charlotte Observer’s just announced job cuts.
You can read about them in this McC Watch post which also has links to previous posts on McClatchy’s decline.
McC Watch does an outstanding job covering McClatchey, America’s second (or maybe third) largest newspaper chain whose papers include the liberal/leftist “Anything for Obama” Raleigh News & Observer.
I’ve only one disagreement with McC Watch’s latest post.
I don’t think we’re watching a slow motion wreck.
McClatchy’s on the fast track to disaster.
Within the last 5 years its stock has traded in the mid 70s.
According to AOL Money & Finance McClatchy (symbol mni) closed yesterday, June 9, @ 7.81, down from its 52-week high of 28.73 and just above its 52-week low of 7.77.
McClatchy is loaded with debt; its bonds are rated junk; and its ad revenues are declining. So is print circulation at just about all its papers.
A blog friend who knows something about finance and a lot about the newspaper business says he won’t be surprised to see McClatchy declare bankruptcy before the end of this calendar year.
Meanwhile, McClatchy's business plan seems to be: "More steam, engineer."
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The McClatchy train wreck
Posted by JWM at 4:57 AM
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3 comments:
The N&O spends a lot of time on trivia but avoids real issues.
Peder Zane is not yucking it up in an online video about Obama's "fist bump" and the editor's blog has spent time writing about this.
They avoid real issues and use trivia to make news.
Last week Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group made this profound statement: “In the future, there will be two categories of newspapers. Those that survive, and those that die.”
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19 Of The Top 50 US Newspapers Are Losing Money
Business Week ^ | June 9, 2008 | Jon Fine
… His [Singleton‘s] statement didn’t draw much attention in the US.
By my estimate, as many as 19 of the top 50 metro newspapers in America are losing money today, and that number will continue to grow.
(snip)
The N&O could have exposed the lax hoax for the fraud it was; won itself a Pulitzer Prize or two; and best of all, really informed the public about what was behind the case.
It could have taken on the establishment the way the press in Detroit is doing.
It could have been something people were eager to read, because it gave them the truth they couldn't get elsewhere.
Instead. . .
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