STAR TRIBUNE POLL as of 5:30 P.M. THURSDAY
Instant poll: Do you support a bailout for Wall Street?
# of votes % of votes
Yes 1043 26.0 %
No 2963 73.9 %
Total Votes 4006
Editor's note: Instant polls are intended as entertainment. They are not considered to be true measurements of public opinion.
The Poll
Here's my thoughts:
This plan may be gaining more traction with Democrats than Republicans in the House, but on the street, it's unpopular with everyone. Minnesota voters are a relatively liberal bunch, at least in the urban core. The Minneapolis Star Tribune is considered a left-leaning newspaper. And online readers are, arguably, younger and more liberal than print readers. (That's highly debatable, but still...)
So when these relatively liberal readers are polled about the Wall Street bail-out plan -- and they shoot it down 3-1 -- that means the plan is in trouble. If Wall Street can't win hearts and minds in Minnesota, good luck in the heartland. They'll eat you alive.
Corrollary 1: To the degree that Bush is pushing this plan -- and McCain is associated with Bush -- this hurts McCain more than it hurts Obama. Liberals are expected to support bailouts and government intervention; conservatives are not. Whatever McCain's stance on the bailout, you'll see some conservative diehards staying home on election day because of disgust with and division within the party over this. McCain looks uncertain about this plan, which means he looks uncertain about economic issues in general, already a weak spot in his campaign. And it's a bad time for the decider-in-chief to look uncertain. At a time when economic issues are at the forefront of voters' minds, he does not look like he's at the forefront of economic issues. In fact, he looks like what he is -- a rich old white man with an even wealthier wife, oblivious and impervious to downturns in the economy. Not a good thing for his campaign.
Corrollary 2: Disgusted with the bailout plan and with Bush, conservative voters are going to stay home on election day. That's going to hurt GOP races across the country. Obama will win; Dems will control the House by wider margins than at any other time in recent history. Mark my words.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Held at pepper-spray-point during Republican National Convention, Rage Against the Machine aftermath
Oh. Man.
I almost got arrested tonight while on assignment covering RNC-related protestors. I had to kneel in the middle of the street with my hands on my head and a pepper spray gun trained pretty much directly on me. I then had to beg my way out of a mass arrest that netted 30 others. I'm glad I didn't have to spend the night in jail, but it all worked out swimmingly given that I have such a beautiful and trustworthy smile... :)
Last night it was tear gas (which hurts like a mother f%^ker!) that got ignited a few feet behind me while I was covering a protest march. Tonight, the "on your knees! hands on head!" treatment. I hate to say it, but the kookiness of the RNC has actually been kinda fun....
Covering the protests and security skirmishes surrounding the Republican National Convention is a bit like being a kid in Disney Land trying to chase a paper airplane that keeps flying away.
You almost catch up to the airplane, but a giant spectacle or security roadblock of some sort gets in your way, and you end up detouring in and out and under novelties of all strange shapes and sizes to get back to where you wanted to go. Only by that time, the paper airplane has flown somewhere else.
Tonight the airplane I was assigned to chase was not in St. Paul but in Minneapolis. A bunch of us reporters were told to be ready for possible confrontation between police and the self-described anarchists coming into and / or out of the "Rage Against the Machine" concert at the Target Center in the bar / club district of downtown Minneapolis. I got there at 6:30 p.m. and waited and waited and waited; nothing happened until nearly midnight.
When the concert let out around 10:30 p.m., a fair number of drunk hooligans blocked First Avenue outside the performance center, trying to excite the crowd. Police had been waiting in droves for such an occurrence; they lined the sidewalk of First Avenue in large numbers and blocked off the avenue across 6th Street and 7th Street in even larger numbers, with helmeted cops on horses, bike cops, SWAT, and all kinds of vehicles. We're talking dozens, if not hundreds of officers armed with large wooden sticks, pepper spray and more.
After more than an hour, and several rebellious chants of "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me," the 6th Street crowd eventually dispersed with only one arrest. The 7th Street side was more heavily saturated with anarchists, as opposed to silly drunks, and they seemed to feel that if they could only push back the police and force them to let them march in the middle of the street, they would ignite the revolution that changes the world. Who am I to question such logic? So they marched. The police stood their ground for a while, then fell back, unwilling to unleash force.
About 200 or so marched for blocks and blocks, weaving between cars, but eventually stopping at 7th and 2nd Avenue, in front of the WCCO / Ameriprise Financial buildings in the financial district. That's where two bike cops kinda drew a line in the sand, stopping the front dozen or so in the crowd with their bikes. I thought, this crowd (which was down to about 75 at this point, all told, I bet) is going to overwhelm these guys.
Suddenly, an all-terrain vehicle with two cops on the back of it zoomed into the intersection, one guy had his beanbag or rubber bullet or pellet gun raised at us, and I heard two pops. I ran down half a block down 2nd Avenue like a #$%Q# bat outta hell. Scar-eee.
But being stupid -- and being paid to be stupid -- I just had to venture back. A group of 30 - to - 50 people were in the intersection now, including one of my coworkers. After a few minutes, a row of bike cops swooped in and circled the intersection. We were surrounded on all sides.
My co-worker and I ventured to one end of the intersection and politely asked if we could be excused from the circle. The cop said, "No, go the other way." So we did. At the other end of the intersection, we made the same request. That cop also said, "No, go the other way." We suddenly realized we weren't going to be let out.
And the bike cops were only perimeter people. They were the fence. Next came the enforcers.
The bike cops were quickly joined by armed, helmeted, Storm Trooper-like SWAT types all in black, with weapons out. A cop with a pepper spray gun was screaming at me to get down on my knees and put my hands on my head.
So I did.
I couldn't stop smiling a nervous smile. They announced that "everyone in this intersection is being put under arrest." I thought, oh man, my first night in jail!!
But then I noticed that a bunch of cameramen were walking out of the circle. "Hey, I'm media too! They're letting those guys go!" I yelled over to one of the officers. They directed me out of the circle, and I mentioned that my co-worker was media too and on his knees not far behind me. I was free! He was too! Yippeee!
That was about it.
Most everyone else got arrested, though the police chief met with the now large crowd of gathering reporters and said they'd only be charged with misdemeanors. A handful of juveniles and concert-goers who had been looking for their parking ramps were also let go.
the end bye bye see ya later!
P.S. Looks like the Pioneer Press was also there:
FROM:
30 arrested
All Headlines
Thirty people arrested in Minneapolis following Rage Against the Machine concert
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 09/04/2008 01:09:17 AM CDT
Roughly 30 people were arrested in downtown Minneapolis Wednesday evening as they marched through the streets after a much-anticipated Rage Against the Machine concert.
It began when a group of about 200 people began slowly marching from the Target Center on First Avenue, where the concert ended about 10:30 p.m., chanting slogans about democracy and "taking the streets."
The Target Center had been surrounded by dozens of police in full riot gear, anticipating trouble following clashes with protesters in St. Paul on prior days during the Republican National Convention.
As the group walked southeast down Seventh Street, police began tapping the ankles of stragglers, telling them to get off the street and onto the sidewalk. At one point, a group of officers in a six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle fired two rounds from what appeared to be either a beanbag or pellet gun.
Several people who were at the concert said they also saw police use pepper spray on individuals walking from the concert.
By the time the marchers reached the corner Seventh Street and 2nd Avenue South, they were down to about 75 people. The group stopped and started cheering, before a few called out "let's keep on taking the streets."
Some of the crowd dispersed as more police arrived on bikes and horses. Just after midnight, police circled the group, ordered them to the ground and cuffed them.
"We are free citizens of America, and we are here because we love our country," said a girl
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
who was leading the crowd, who refused to give her name.
"We were at the Rage concert, and they are taking it of context. We were just marching," said Dan Rarick, of Hutchinson, immediately before the arrests. Rarick said he was a U.S. Marine veteran who served in Iraq.
"They're taking it a little to the extreme," added his friend, Joe Tschumperlin, of Shakopee, also a Marine veteran. Seconds later, the arrests began.
Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan, who was on the streets monitoring the situation, said "I'm surprised it wasn't a little worse based on the last few days in St. Paul."
He estimated about 30 people were arrested for blocking traffic, and expected them to be charged with misdemeanors.
Fred Melo, John Brewer, Mara H. Gottfried and Tad Vezner contributed to this story.
I almost got arrested tonight while on assignment covering RNC-related protestors. I had to kneel in the middle of the street with my hands on my head and a pepper spray gun trained pretty much directly on me. I then had to beg my way out of a mass arrest that netted 30 others. I'm glad I didn't have to spend the night in jail, but it all worked out swimmingly given that I have such a beautiful and trustworthy smile... :)
Last night it was tear gas (which hurts like a mother f%^ker!) that got ignited a few feet behind me while I was covering a protest march. Tonight, the "on your knees! hands on head!" treatment. I hate to say it, but the kookiness of the RNC has actually been kinda fun....
Covering the protests and security skirmishes surrounding the Republican National Convention is a bit like being a kid in Disney Land trying to chase a paper airplane that keeps flying away.
You almost catch up to the airplane, but a giant spectacle or security roadblock of some sort gets in your way, and you end up detouring in and out and under novelties of all strange shapes and sizes to get back to where you wanted to go. Only by that time, the paper airplane has flown somewhere else.
Tonight the airplane I was assigned to chase was not in St. Paul but in Minneapolis. A bunch of us reporters were told to be ready for possible confrontation between police and the self-described anarchists coming into and / or out of the "Rage Against the Machine" concert at the Target Center in the bar / club district of downtown Minneapolis. I got there at 6:30 p.m. and waited and waited and waited; nothing happened until nearly midnight.
When the concert let out around 10:30 p.m., a fair number of drunk hooligans blocked First Avenue outside the performance center, trying to excite the crowd. Police had been waiting in droves for such an occurrence; they lined the sidewalk of First Avenue in large numbers and blocked off the avenue across 6th Street and 7th Street in even larger numbers, with helmeted cops on horses, bike cops, SWAT, and all kinds of vehicles. We're talking dozens, if not hundreds of officers armed with large wooden sticks, pepper spray and more.
After more than an hour, and several rebellious chants of "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me," the 6th Street crowd eventually dispersed with only one arrest. The 7th Street side was more heavily saturated with anarchists, as opposed to silly drunks, and they seemed to feel that if they could only push back the police and force them to let them march in the middle of the street, they would ignite the revolution that changes the world. Who am I to question such logic? So they marched. The police stood their ground for a while, then fell back, unwilling to unleash force.
About 200 or so marched for blocks and blocks, weaving between cars, but eventually stopping at 7th and 2nd Avenue, in front of the WCCO / Ameriprise Financial buildings in the financial district. That's where two bike cops kinda drew a line in the sand, stopping the front dozen or so in the crowd with their bikes. I thought, this crowd (which was down to about 75 at this point, all told, I bet) is going to overwhelm these guys.
Suddenly, an all-terrain vehicle with two cops on the back of it zoomed into the intersection, one guy had his beanbag or rubber bullet or pellet gun raised at us, and I heard two pops. I ran down half a block down 2nd Avenue like a #$%Q# bat outta hell. Scar-eee.
But being stupid -- and being paid to be stupid -- I just had to venture back. A group of 30 - to - 50 people were in the intersection now, including one of my coworkers. After a few minutes, a row of bike cops swooped in and circled the intersection. We were surrounded on all sides.
My co-worker and I ventured to one end of the intersection and politely asked if we could be excused from the circle. The cop said, "No, go the other way." So we did. At the other end of the intersection, we made the same request. That cop also said, "No, go the other way." We suddenly realized we weren't going to be let out.
And the bike cops were only perimeter people. They were the fence. Next came the enforcers.
The bike cops were quickly joined by armed, helmeted, Storm Trooper-like SWAT types all in black, with weapons out. A cop with a pepper spray gun was screaming at me to get down on my knees and put my hands on my head.
So I did.
I couldn't stop smiling a nervous smile. They announced that "everyone in this intersection is being put under arrest." I thought, oh man, my first night in jail!!
But then I noticed that a bunch of cameramen were walking out of the circle. "Hey, I'm media too! They're letting those guys go!" I yelled over to one of the officers. They directed me out of the circle, and I mentioned that my co-worker was media too and on his knees not far behind me. I was free! He was too! Yippeee!
That was about it.
Most everyone else got arrested, though the police chief met with the now large crowd of gathering reporters and said they'd only be charged with misdemeanors. A handful of juveniles and concert-goers who had been looking for their parking ramps were also let go.
the end bye bye see ya later!
P.S. Looks like the Pioneer Press was also there:
FROM:
30 arrested
All Headlines
Thirty people arrested in Minneapolis following Rage Against the Machine concert
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 09/04/2008 01:09:17 AM CDT
Roughly 30 people were arrested in downtown Minneapolis Wednesday evening as they marched through the streets after a much-anticipated Rage Against the Machine concert.
It began when a group of about 200 people began slowly marching from the Target Center on First Avenue, where the concert ended about 10:30 p.m., chanting slogans about democracy and "taking the streets."
The Target Center had been surrounded by dozens of police in full riot gear, anticipating trouble following clashes with protesters in St. Paul on prior days during the Republican National Convention.
As the group walked southeast down Seventh Street, police began tapping the ankles of stragglers, telling them to get off the street and onto the sidewalk. At one point, a group of officers in a six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle fired two rounds from what appeared to be either a beanbag or pellet gun.
Several people who were at the concert said they also saw police use pepper spray on individuals walking from the concert.
By the time the marchers reached the corner Seventh Street and 2nd Avenue South, they were down to about 75 people. The group stopped and started cheering, before a few called out "let's keep on taking the streets."
Some of the crowd dispersed as more police arrived on bikes and horses. Just after midnight, police circled the group, ordered them to the ground and cuffed them.
"We are free citizens of America, and we are here because we love our country," said a girl
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
who was leading the crowd, who refused to give her name.
"We were at the Rage concert, and they are taking it of context. We were just marching," said Dan Rarick, of Hutchinson, immediately before the arrests. Rarick said he was a U.S. Marine veteran who served in Iraq.
"They're taking it a little to the extreme," added his friend, Joe Tschumperlin, of Shakopee, also a Marine veteran. Seconds later, the arrests began.
Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan, who was on the streets monitoring the situation, said "I'm surprised it wasn't a little worse based on the last few days in St. Paul."
He estimated about 30 people were arrested for blocking traffic, and expected them to be charged with misdemeanors.
Fred Melo, John Brewer, Mara H. Gottfried and Tad Vezner contributed to this story.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Strib has tentative labor deal, Pioneer Press to combine sections
The Star Tribune's newspaper guild has apparently accepted a three-year labor deal that preserves most jobs for a few years yet, without pay raises. It's still tentative, though.
Sounds pretty good at first blush, but MinnPost's David Brauer reports there's no layoff protection in the contract. Not so good at second blush.
And across the river...
The Pioneer Press says the rising cost of newsprint is forcing it to combine the A section (national, World news, A-1 stories) with the B section (Local news) on Mondays and Tuesdays.
In other words, that thin paper you've been seeing toward the beginning of the week? It might get a tad bit thinner, by about four to six pages a week. The number of stories, however, is not projected to shrink much (though their length might).
More here:
Minn Post's David Brauer on the PiPress combining sections
This is also probably good news. It was getting pretty depressing opening the local section and seeing a string of obituaries staring back at you from B-3.
They've also announced they're putting more energy into niche publications, like mini-magazine-style glossies with a few articles about sports, homebuying or entertainment and lots and lots and lots of advertisements.
This last part is a good thing. Advertisers like a targeted audience, and audiences like a targeted product!
Sounds pretty good at first blush, but MinnPost's David Brauer reports there's no layoff protection in the contract. Not so good at second blush.
And across the river...
The Pioneer Press says the rising cost of newsprint is forcing it to combine the A section (national, World news, A-1 stories) with the B section (Local news) on Mondays and Tuesdays.
In other words, that thin paper you've been seeing toward the beginning of the week? It might get a tad bit thinner, by about four to six pages a week. The number of stories, however, is not projected to shrink much (though their length might).
More here:
Minn Post's David Brauer on the PiPress combining sections
This is also probably good news. It was getting pretty depressing opening the local section and seeing a string of obituaries staring back at you from B-3.
They've also announced they're putting more energy into niche publications, like mini-magazine-style glossies with a few articles about sports, homebuying or entertainment and lots and lots and lots of advertisements.
This last part is a good thing. Advertisers like a targeted audience, and audiences like a targeted product!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
How Pioneer Press owner "Lean" Dean Singleton got rich in newspapers and then took on potentially crippling debt
Here's some analysis from the Poynter Institute's business desk that anyone with a remote interest in the welfare of the Pioneer Press and other MediaNews holdings will want to read:
Poynter Biz blog on newspaper debt
Poynter Media Business Analyst Rick Edmonds tracks the latest industry developments.
Add/View All The Biz Blog Feedback
More The Biz Blog RSSPrint this Page
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2008Posted at 9:54:37 AM
It's the Debt, Stupid
When Sam Zell and his lieutenants or Dean Singleton opine on the state of the newspaper industry and the drastic remedies required, as they have in recent weeks, it puts me in a mood to scream.
Yes, times are tough. But the latest draconian cuts they are imposing on employees and readers are going largely to service the ridiculous levels of debt they had the bad judgment to take on.
Let's look at the numbers. Zell's Tribune began life last December with more than $12 billion in debt. Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert wrote then that the company would face around $1 billion in debt payments this year, which cash flow from its operations would barely cover.
Things aren't working out even that well, with revenue declines much worse than expected. For the first quarter of 2008, Tribune reported cash flow of about $200 million from operations. Interest payments totaled $263 million. Forget profits, obscene or otherwise, the company operated at a loss.
Turning to Singleton's MediaNews, it reported interest payments of about $80 million in 2007, sucking up about 6 percent of the revenue its newspapers generated.
MediaNews stopped reporting its financials in April, but it is reasonable to assume debt service remains about the same in 2008 at the same time revenues, and earnings, keep falling (as they are throughout the industry).
By contrast, an extremely conservative borrower, the Washington Post Co., had interest payments of only $12 million in 2007. Its diverse businesses generated revenue of over $4 billion, more than triple those of MediaNews.
So when Tribune announces it will "right-size" by getting the split of advertising and news space to 50-50 in its papers, I wonder whether this abnormal level of shoehorning news is largely a ploy to finance debt.
When Singleton boasts to an international conference in Sweden of his progressive step of depriving various of his California papers of local-based publishers and copy desks, I think I know why no other major American publishing group has gone that far. Feeling prosecutorial about these exercises in making a difficult situation worse, I do need to add a few qualifiers.
The Tribune deal came with a huge tax benefit and an understanding that some assets would need to be sold. MediaNews operates on a model distinctly its own, including joint operating agreements for three of its biggest papers and a number of management contracts, particularly with well-heeled Hearst.
Being highly leveraged has always been part of the game plan, and Singleton has been shrewd lately about getting paid without committing his own capital. You could also argue that the industry has consistently underestimated how much revenue and earnings will fall.
If that is still the case, Tribune and MediaNews could be avatars of deeper cuts other companies may resort to in another six months to a year. Also we are past the point where cutting the newspaper expense base can reasonably be blamed on greedy, bad-guy managers.
If an industry loses 20 percent of revenues over two years, more in problem spots like Florida and California, you don't need an M.B.A. to figure out the necessity of bringing down costs. Still, I think operators like Zell and Singleton are squishy where others are forthright on the concurrent need to keep heft and quality in the print product and invest aggressively in new digital operations.
Frankly, I don't think they have the money to do it -- because the banker has to be paid first.
In December 2006, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster spoke to an investors' conference in New York. Asked the inevitable question about whether he felt guilty about helping destroy the industry's classified base, he replied that he and Craig Newmark thought the bigger problem was excessive debt. (Craigslist, essentially, has none).
Both are problems, but I do think debt has become a very important gradient now when looking at companies. Zell, Singleton, McClatchy and private groups in Minneapolis and Philadelphia all labor under the burden of having bought papers assuming earnings as they were instead of earnings as they have become.
McClatchy announced deep cuts of its own this week and carries big debt from laying out $4 billion (after the sale of some papers) for Knight Ridder just as the business turned from stalled to plunging in mid-2005. But McClatchy also sold its largest paper, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, ahead of the curve of sinking valuations and has actually been paying down debt as well as covering interest payments.
Conversely, some companies have had the good sense or good fortune not to buy any newspapers this decade. That hasn't earned them favor on Wall Street, but it does leave a lot more maneuvering room for transformation in the next several years.
That group would include, among others, A.H. Belo, E.W. Scripps, the Washington Post and New York Times companies, and Cox. I don't think it coincidental that you see some of the boldest digital experiments and strongest online growth rates at the newspapers of these companies.
-- END --
Poynter Biz blog on newspaper debt
Poynter Media Business Analyst Rick Edmonds tracks the latest industry developments.
Add/View All The Biz Blog Feedback
More The Biz Blog RSSPrint this Page
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2008Posted at 9:54:37 AM
It's the Debt, Stupid
When Sam Zell and his lieutenants or Dean Singleton opine on the state of the newspaper industry and the drastic remedies required, as they have in recent weeks, it puts me in a mood to scream.
Yes, times are tough. But the latest draconian cuts they are imposing on employees and readers are going largely to service the ridiculous levels of debt they had the bad judgment to take on.
Let's look at the numbers. Zell's Tribune began life last December with more than $12 billion in debt. Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert wrote then that the company would face around $1 billion in debt payments this year, which cash flow from its operations would barely cover.
Things aren't working out even that well, with revenue declines much worse than expected. For the first quarter of 2008, Tribune reported cash flow of about $200 million from operations. Interest payments totaled $263 million. Forget profits, obscene or otherwise, the company operated at a loss.
Turning to Singleton's MediaNews, it reported interest payments of about $80 million in 2007, sucking up about 6 percent of the revenue its newspapers generated.
MediaNews stopped reporting its financials in April, but it is reasonable to assume debt service remains about the same in 2008 at the same time revenues, and earnings, keep falling (as they are throughout the industry).
By contrast, an extremely conservative borrower, the Washington Post Co., had interest payments of only $12 million in 2007. Its diverse businesses generated revenue of over $4 billion, more than triple those of MediaNews.
So when Tribune announces it will "right-size" by getting the split of advertising and news space to 50-50 in its papers, I wonder whether this abnormal level of shoehorning news is largely a ploy to finance debt.
When Singleton boasts to an international conference in Sweden of his progressive step of depriving various of his California papers of local-based publishers and copy desks, I think I know why no other major American publishing group has gone that far. Feeling prosecutorial about these exercises in making a difficult situation worse, I do need to add a few qualifiers.
The Tribune deal came with a huge tax benefit and an understanding that some assets would need to be sold. MediaNews operates on a model distinctly its own, including joint operating agreements for three of its biggest papers and a number of management contracts, particularly with well-heeled Hearst.
Being highly leveraged has always been part of the game plan, and Singleton has been shrewd lately about getting paid without committing his own capital. You could also argue that the industry has consistently underestimated how much revenue and earnings will fall.
If that is still the case, Tribune and MediaNews could be avatars of deeper cuts other companies may resort to in another six months to a year. Also we are past the point where cutting the newspaper expense base can reasonably be blamed on greedy, bad-guy managers.
If an industry loses 20 percent of revenues over two years, more in problem spots like Florida and California, you don't need an M.B.A. to figure out the necessity of bringing down costs. Still, I think operators like Zell and Singleton are squishy where others are forthright on the concurrent need to keep heft and quality in the print product and invest aggressively in new digital operations.
Frankly, I don't think they have the money to do it -- because the banker has to be paid first.
In December 2006, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster spoke to an investors' conference in New York. Asked the inevitable question about whether he felt guilty about helping destroy the industry's classified base, he replied that he and Craig Newmark thought the bigger problem was excessive debt. (Craigslist, essentially, has none).
Both are problems, but I do think debt has become a very important gradient now when looking at companies. Zell, Singleton, McClatchy and private groups in Minneapolis and Philadelphia all labor under the burden of having bought papers assuming earnings as they were instead of earnings as they have become.
McClatchy announced deep cuts of its own this week and carries big debt from laying out $4 billion (after the sale of some papers) for Knight Ridder just as the business turned from stalled to plunging in mid-2005. But McClatchy also sold its largest paper, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, ahead of the curve of sinking valuations and has actually been paying down debt as well as covering interest payments.
Conversely, some companies have had the good sense or good fortune not to buy any newspapers this decade. That hasn't earned them favor on Wall Street, but it does leave a lot more maneuvering room for transformation in the next several years.
That group would include, among others, A.H. Belo, E.W. Scripps, the Washington Post and New York Times companies, and Cox. I don't think it coincidental that you see some of the boldest digital experiments and strongest online growth rates at the newspapers of these companies.
-- END --
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
McClatchy newspapers slash hundreds of jobs today
Someday, the cuts to the newspaper industry will equalize with job gains elsewhere in the media world (I hope), and this brave new thing that will rise up to replace the printed word will materialize, offering us all quality journalism without the ink stains on our hands and feet. (Well, your hands... my feet...)
Someday.
But not today.
McClatchy, the former owner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, slashed 1,400 jobs across the country Monday morning, including 250 at the Miami Herald alone.
News article on this crap here
That's a 10 percent reduction.
Imagine losing 10 percent of your body weight all at once ... or 10 percent of your extended family ... or 10 percent of your co-workers.
McClatchy had previously cut 2,000 jobs over the course of 18 months, so this latest bolt of pain is just a sudden amputation on top of the loss of the larger limb that had been hacked off a little more gradually.
Cry, cry for the newsfolk....
They need it!
FYI: McClatchy-owned newspapers include The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, the Charlotte Observer.
McClatchy.com
Someday.
But not today.
McClatchy, the former owner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, slashed 1,400 jobs across the country Monday morning, including 250 at the Miami Herald alone.
News article on this crap here
That's a 10 percent reduction.
Imagine losing 10 percent of your body weight all at once ... or 10 percent of your extended family ... or 10 percent of your co-workers.
McClatchy had previously cut 2,000 jobs over the course of 18 months, so this latest bolt of pain is just a sudden amputation on top of the loss of the larger limb that had been hacked off a little more gradually.
Cry, cry for the newsfolk....
They need it!
FYI: McClatchy-owned newspapers include The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, the Charlotte Observer.
McClatchy.com
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Strange Days and Carrie Bradshaw
I have seen everything and it is strange.
Two women and a gay man just shared a sugar cookie three-ways in my office.
One of the women is now walking around the office, trying to unload the remaining THIRD of the cookie on whoever wants it..
It is a Carrie Bradshaw cookie. As in, the star of Sex and the City, sitting with legs crossed on a bench, looking glamorous, sugar-coated onto a cookie.
Two women and a gay man just shared a sugar cookie three-ways in my office.
One of the women is now walking around the office, trying to unload the remaining THIRD of the cookie on whoever wants it..
It is a Carrie Bradshaw cookie. As in, the star of Sex and the City, sitting with legs crossed on a bench, looking glamorous, sugar-coated onto a cookie.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Dry Drowning, the bizarrest way to die?
It works like this: You step out of the pool with water in your lungs. You don't feel perfect, nor do you feel terrible. You go home tired. Then, about 24 hours later (or less), you die. As in, you're dead.
Don't believe me? Dry Drowning supposedly kills about 300 or so people a year in the U.S.A.
You could be next, bucko!!!
I don't mean to make light. This case is truly sad:
‘Dry drowning’ claims 10-year-old’s life - Health - MSNBC.comThe tragic death of a South Carolina 10-year-old more than an hour after he had gone swimming has focused a spotlight on the little-known phenomenon called ...
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24982210/>1=43001 - 43k - Cached - Similar pages
So after reading the above article, I looked up the official Wikipedia definition of Dry Drowning here, and I nary understood nary a nary word, narily:
Dry drowning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaIn cases of dry drowning in which the victim was immersed, very little fluid is aspirated into the lungs. The laryngospasm reflex essentially causes ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_drowning - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
Don't believe me? Dry Drowning supposedly kills about 300 or so people a year in the U.S.A.
You could be next, bucko!!!
I don't mean to make light. This case is truly sad:
‘Dry drowning’ claims 10-year-old’s life - Health - MSNBC.comThe tragic death of a South Carolina 10-year-old more than an hour after he had gone swimming has focused a spotlight on the little-known phenomenon called ...
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24982210/>1=43001 - 43k - Cached - Similar pages
So after reading the above article, I looked up the official Wikipedia definition of Dry Drowning here, and I nary understood nary a nary word, narily:
Dry drowning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaIn cases of dry drowning in which the victim was immersed, very little fluid is aspirated into the lungs. The laryngospasm reflex essentially causes ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_drowning - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
Friday, May 23, 2008
More on reporter-blogger-intellectual
Pioneer Press reporter Alex Friedrich's heralded State Fair blog, pushing the envelope of toilet humor and gastrointestinal distress, here:
minnesotastatefair.blogspot.com
London School of Economics steals Pioneer Press reporter
My sources at the PiPress have forwarded me a goodbye speech for a good guy and one heck of a good reporter. It's worth reading.
--------
Union organizer and reporter par excellence, Alex Friedrich, is leaving the Pioneer Press today (Friday) to pursue a master's degree in European History at the London School of Economics.
Friedrich was a unit chair with the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, of the Communications Workers of America Local 37002.
More on him here:
http://www.shoptalknet.org/index.php?get=Alex+Friedrich
His co-worker, Fred Melo, sent this email around to everyone in the newsroom, after the 4 p.m. goodbye speeches and cake.
-----
Here's the goodbye-to-Alex speech I would have given 20 minutes ago, had that Q@#$%$^ not cut me off in traffic and had the police chief spoken a little bit faster. Not my fault, I double-pinky swear. (Well....):
Alex was my first male friend at the Pioneer Press and... (Hmmm... Let me try that again with another lede here... )
Alex's reporting life has taken him from Germany and Prague to the rain-soaked streets of a post-Hurricane Katrina Mississippi, not to forget the hazardous byways of Internet blogging (without pooping. If you don't know what I'm taking about, do a search for Friedrich and State Fair).
But this was not my primary way of knowing Alex or accessing the open library inside his head. Truth be told, I rarely read his beat stuff. Washington County? Might as well be Guam to me.
Few people realize how hard Alex worked for all of us -- as a newsroom, as a paper, and as a brave but embattled industry -- once his computer shut off and he "went home" for the day.
On a near-nightly basis, his was the face and voice of reporters, editors and photographers, writing and researching and organizing the stuff that most of us don't have the stomach for. Mondays at noon, week in and week out, he was there come heck or come highwater, meeting with co-workers across departments, planner in hand.
Whatever our remaining challenges as a paper and as an industry, the short-term results have been better than many expected. I truly believe Alex Friedrich and the loyalty he inspired is a signifcant reason why the Pioneer Press is growing circulation, while the competition isn't.
His was leadership with a smile, and he always maintained a forward-thinking, solution-oriented way of figuring how to improve life here for all of us, and not just for a particular segment of the newsroom.
Leave it to a beautiful woman to steal his heart and kidnap him off to the London School of Economics. Not too shabby, young man. Sounds like a permanent contract to me.
Now go forth and multiply....
Frederick Melo
Reporter, St. Paul Pioneer Press
345 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55101
Office: 651.228.2172 | Mobile: 651.398.5534
Fax: 651.228.5500
fmelo@pioneerpress.com | www.twincities.com
--------
Union organizer and reporter par excellence, Alex Friedrich, is leaving the Pioneer Press today (Friday) to pursue a master's degree in European History at the London School of Economics.
Friedrich was a unit chair with the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, of the Communications Workers of America Local 37002.
More on him here:
http://www.shoptalknet.org/index.php?get=Alex+Friedrich
His co-worker, Fred Melo, sent this email around to everyone in the newsroom, after the 4 p.m. goodbye speeches and cake.
-----
Here's the goodbye-to-Alex speech I would have given 20 minutes ago, had that Q@#$%$^ not cut me off in traffic and had the police chief spoken a little bit faster. Not my fault, I double-pinky swear. (Well....):
Alex was my first male friend at the Pioneer Press and... (Hmmm... Let me try that again with another lede here... )
Alex's reporting life has taken him from Germany and Prague to the rain-soaked streets of a post-Hurricane Katrina Mississippi, not to forget the hazardous byways of Internet blogging (without pooping. If you don't know what I'm taking about, do a search for Friedrich and State Fair).
But this was not my primary way of knowing Alex or accessing the open library inside his head. Truth be told, I rarely read his beat stuff. Washington County? Might as well be Guam to me.
Few people realize how hard Alex worked for all of us -- as a newsroom, as a paper, and as a brave but embattled industry -- once his computer shut off and he "went home" for the day.
On a near-nightly basis, his was the face and voice of reporters, editors and photographers, writing and researching and organizing the stuff that most of us don't have the stomach for. Mondays at noon, week in and week out, he was there come heck or come highwater, meeting with co-workers across departments, planner in hand.
Whatever our remaining challenges as a paper and as an industry, the short-term results have been better than many expected. I truly believe Alex Friedrich and the loyalty he inspired is a signifcant reason why the Pioneer Press is growing circulation, while the competition isn't.
His was leadership with a smile, and he always maintained a forward-thinking, solution-oriented way of figuring how to improve life here for all of us, and not just for a particular segment of the newsroom.
Leave it to a beautiful woman to steal his heart and kidnap him off to the London School of Economics. Not too shabby, young man. Sounds like a permanent contract to me.
Now go forth and multiply....
Frederick Melo
Reporter, St. Paul Pioneer Press
345 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55101
Office: 651.228.2172 | Mobile: 651.398.5534
Fax: 651.228.5500
fmelo@pioneerpress.com | www.twincities.com
Friday, May 9, 2008
Michael Bhatia, Brown scholar, killed in Afghanistan
A good man died in Afghanistan on Wednesday. He was an Oxford scholar and an intellectual and I'd like to think of him as a friend, though we hadn't stayed in touch like we should have over the years.
His name was Michael Bhatia, and to call him smart is like calling the Pope a Catholic. Bhatia, of Medway, Massachusetts, did his first mission in sub-Saharan Africa with a United Nations crisis team while he was a sophomore in college. He studied toward his Phd at Oxford and taught at his alma mater, Brown University in Rhode Island, in recent months.
He was 30 or 31 years old.
His subject of choice was war. But his was no mere theoretical or intellectual exercise. He was one of those rare academics that believed in putting the books down at the end of the semester and talking to people -- real, everyday people -- in their homes, in their villages, and seeing the world through their eyes. He was an idealist. He wanted peace.
He traveled to East Timor, Afghanistan, and any number of crisis locations hoping to learn and to help people. The U.S. military hired him as a cultural adviser of sorts in Afghanistan. Scattered blog and media reports indicate his convoy hit some form of explosive. I'm not sure if it was a cast-away boobie trap in the style of a landmine or more of an organized attack.
To say he is mourned and loved is an understatement. We miss you Mike. We'll see you again someday.
More on Michael Bhatia here:
Brown University's Watson Insitute memorial tribute:
http://watsoninstitute.org/news_detail.cfm?id=851
Brown University's alumni magazine posting:
http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/recent_news/michael_bhatia_99_killed_in_afghanistan_1980.html
Reuters describes the attack that likely killed Mike:
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnISL72960.html
Mike's bio on the Globalist:
http://www.theglobalist.com/AuthorBiography.aspx?AuthorId=988
Mike's three-part personal photo series on life in Afghanistan:
http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=6416
Zohra, a blog friend from Afghanistan, remembers Mike:
http://kabulkabul.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-memory-of-michael-bhatia.html
A Brown friend and drinking buddy remembers Mike:
http://sethresler.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/michael-bhatia/
FROM THE WATSON INSTITUTE AT BROWN UNIVERSITY:
In Memory of Michael Vinay Bhatia '99
Michael Bhatia
May 08, 2008
Michael Vinay Bhatia ’99 died yesterday in Afghanistan, where he was working as a social scientist in consultation with the US Defense Department.
In addition to graduating magna cum laude in international relations from Brown University, Michael was a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute from July 2006 to June 2007. At the Institute, he was involved in a research project on Cultural Awareness in the Military, writing his PhD dissertation, and teaching a senior seminar on "The US Military: Global Supremacy, Democracy and Citizenship."
Over several years, Michael’s research and humanitarian work took him to such conflict zones as Sahrawi refugee camps, East Timor, and Kosovo, in addition to Afghanistan.
Of his work in Afghanistan, Michael wrote in November: “The program has a real chance of reducing both the Afghan and American lives lost, as well as ensuring that the US/NATO/ISAF strategy becomes better attuned to the population's concerns, views, criticisms and interests and better supports the Government of Afghanistan.”
Michael had recently published some of his research on Afghanistan.
His co-authored book on Afghanistan, Arms and Conflict: Armed Groups, Disarmament and Security in a Post-War Society was just released by Routledge in April. It assesses small arms and security-related issues in post-9/11 Afghanistan.
His edited book on Terrorism and the Politics of Naming was published by Routledge last September. Stating that names are not objective, the book seeks the truth behind those assigned in such cases as the US hunt for al-Qaeda, Russia’s demonization of the Chechens, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In August, his personal three-part photo essay, “Shooting Afghanistan: Beyond the Conflict,” was published by theGlobalist. In it, he wrote:
“Afghanistan will soon reach a desperate milestone – the thirtieth anniversary of ongoing conflict. … Though I have spent the majority of my time there researching the wars and those involved in it, conflict is not my primary memory and way of knowing it. I am compelled to write about experiences and ideas that cannot be placed into analytical paradigms, which do not speak to theories of war or peace, to destruction or to reconstruction, but instead to daily interactions that occurred in the course of research.”
His love of photography is revealing. In theGlobalist piece, he also wrote:
“Building on Robert Capa’s statement that 'If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough,' James Nachtwey, the preeminent photo-realist and conflict photographer, once indicated that the primary characteristic of a good war photographer was proximity, closeness and involvement.”
Michael was a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. He was awarded a George C. Marshall Scholarship in 2001 and a Scoville Peace Fellowship in 2000, supporting residence at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, DC.
He was working on his dissertation, titled “The Mujahideen: A Study of Combatant Motives in Afghanistan, 1978-2005,” based on 350 interviews with combatants throughout Afghanistan, as well as archival and media research. He has also conducted research in Afghanistan for the Overseas Development Institute, the Small Arms Survey, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, the UK Department for International Development (via the International Policy Institute, King’s College, London), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Before his fellowship at the Institute, he was a sessional lecturer on the causes of war in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa.
He is the author of War and Intervention: Issues for Contemporary Peace Operations (Kumarian Press, 2003); and of articles in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Global Governance, Review of African Political Economy, The International Journal of Refugee Law, International Peacekeeping, and Middle East Policy. He was the guest editor of The Third World Quarterly Special Issue: “The Politics of Naming: Rebels, Terrorists, Criminals, Bandits and Subversives,” which was then released as a book by Routledge. He received his MSc in international relations research from the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford.
“It's a terrible loss of someone so young, who had already accomplished a great deal, but had so much more to contribute,” said Institute Professor Thomas J. Biersteker, who advised Michael in his studies over the years.
Details about services will be made available.
Read Michael's personal photo essays here:
Globalist essay
Michael's information from Oxford University's St. Antony's College is here.
Read a UN statement given by Michael as an undergraduate here.
His name was Michael Bhatia, and to call him smart is like calling the Pope a Catholic. Bhatia, of Medway, Massachusetts, did his first mission in sub-Saharan Africa with a United Nations crisis team while he was a sophomore in college. He studied toward his Phd at Oxford and taught at his alma mater, Brown University in Rhode Island, in recent months.
He was 30 or 31 years old.
His subject of choice was war. But his was no mere theoretical or intellectual exercise. He was one of those rare academics that believed in putting the books down at the end of the semester and talking to people -- real, everyday people -- in their homes, in their villages, and seeing the world through their eyes. He was an idealist. He wanted peace.
He traveled to East Timor, Afghanistan, and any number of crisis locations hoping to learn and to help people. The U.S. military hired him as a cultural adviser of sorts in Afghanistan. Scattered blog and media reports indicate his convoy hit some form of explosive. I'm not sure if it was a cast-away boobie trap in the style of a landmine or more of an organized attack.
To say he is mourned and loved is an understatement. We miss you Mike. We'll see you again someday.
More on Michael Bhatia here:
Brown University's Watson Insitute memorial tribute:
http://watsoninstitute.org/news_detail.cfm?id=851
Brown University's alumni magazine posting:
http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/recent_news/michael_bhatia_99_killed_in_afghanistan_1980.html
Reuters describes the attack that likely killed Mike:
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnISL72960.html
Mike's bio on the Globalist:
http://www.theglobalist.com/AuthorBiography.aspx?AuthorId=988
Mike's three-part personal photo series on life in Afghanistan:
http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=6416
Zohra, a blog friend from Afghanistan, remembers Mike:
http://kabulkabul.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-memory-of-michael-bhatia.html
A Brown friend and drinking buddy remembers Mike:
http://sethresler.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/michael-bhatia/
FROM THE WATSON INSTITUTE AT BROWN UNIVERSITY:
In Memory of Michael Vinay Bhatia '99
Michael Bhatia
May 08, 2008
Michael Vinay Bhatia ’99 died yesterday in Afghanistan, where he was working as a social scientist in consultation with the US Defense Department.
In addition to graduating magna cum laude in international relations from Brown University, Michael was a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute from July 2006 to June 2007. At the Institute, he was involved in a research project on Cultural Awareness in the Military, writing his PhD dissertation, and teaching a senior seminar on "The US Military: Global Supremacy, Democracy and Citizenship."
Over several years, Michael’s research and humanitarian work took him to such conflict zones as Sahrawi refugee camps, East Timor, and Kosovo, in addition to Afghanistan.
Of his work in Afghanistan, Michael wrote in November: “The program has a real chance of reducing both the Afghan and American lives lost, as well as ensuring that the US/NATO/ISAF strategy becomes better attuned to the population's concerns, views, criticisms and interests and better supports the Government of Afghanistan.”
Michael had recently published some of his research on Afghanistan.
His co-authored book on Afghanistan, Arms and Conflict: Armed Groups, Disarmament and Security in a Post-War Society was just released by Routledge in April. It assesses small arms and security-related issues in post-9/11 Afghanistan.
His edited book on Terrorism and the Politics of Naming was published by Routledge last September. Stating that names are not objective, the book seeks the truth behind those assigned in such cases as the US hunt for al-Qaeda, Russia’s demonization of the Chechens, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In August, his personal three-part photo essay, “Shooting Afghanistan: Beyond the Conflict,” was published by theGlobalist. In it, he wrote:
“Afghanistan will soon reach a desperate milestone – the thirtieth anniversary of ongoing conflict. … Though I have spent the majority of my time there researching the wars and those involved in it, conflict is not my primary memory and way of knowing it. I am compelled to write about experiences and ideas that cannot be placed into analytical paradigms, which do not speak to theories of war or peace, to destruction or to reconstruction, but instead to daily interactions that occurred in the course of research.”
His love of photography is revealing. In theGlobalist piece, he also wrote:
“Building on Robert Capa’s statement that 'If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough,' James Nachtwey, the preeminent photo-realist and conflict photographer, once indicated that the primary characteristic of a good war photographer was proximity, closeness and involvement.”
Michael was a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. He was awarded a George C. Marshall Scholarship in 2001 and a Scoville Peace Fellowship in 2000, supporting residence at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, DC.
He was working on his dissertation, titled “The Mujahideen: A Study of Combatant Motives in Afghanistan, 1978-2005,” based on 350 interviews with combatants throughout Afghanistan, as well as archival and media research. He has also conducted research in Afghanistan for the Overseas Development Institute, the Small Arms Survey, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, the UK Department for International Development (via the International Policy Institute, King’s College, London), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Before his fellowship at the Institute, he was a sessional lecturer on the causes of war in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa.
He is the author of War and Intervention: Issues for Contemporary Peace Operations (Kumarian Press, 2003); and of articles in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Global Governance, Review of African Political Economy, The International Journal of Refugee Law, International Peacekeeping, and Middle East Policy. He was the guest editor of The Third World Quarterly Special Issue: “The Politics of Naming: Rebels, Terrorists, Criminals, Bandits and Subversives,” which was then released as a book by Routledge. He received his MSc in international relations research from the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford.
“It's a terrible loss of someone so young, who had already accomplished a great deal, but had so much more to contribute,” said Institute Professor Thomas J. Biersteker, who advised Michael in his studies over the years.
Details about services will be made available.
Read Michael's personal photo essays here:
Globalist essay
Michael's information from Oxford University's St. Antony's College is here.
Read a UN statement given by Michael as an undergraduate here.
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