At BuzzMachine, Jeff Jarvis says the New York Times should force the Boston Globe into bankruptcy:
[The Globe is] losing $85 million a year. They saved only $20 with recent concessions. It could bring The New York Times down. Time for radical surgery.
Speaking of bankruptcy (and layoffs, and pay cuts and out-of-print): The Wall Street Journal maps the decline of the nation’s top newspapers since 2006.
Lou Carlozo was covering the recession for the Chicago Tribune. Then he got laid off.
Writing for True/Slant, Carlozo expresses his discontent at being forced by Trib management to write for a blog — “The Recession Diaries” — that, in his words, “involved me telling very tough stories about my own family finances–stories that led me and my wife to squabble many times over which details to withhold, which to print, and which ones looked inappropriate in print after the fact.”
Then, to add insult to the injury of being laid off, the Trib censored Carlozo’s attempt to let his readers know he was joining the ranks of the unemployed:
I wanted to post a final blog Wednesday to readers explaining that I had lost my job, a victim of the very recession I covered. I posted this without management’s approval. I then informed management. Management took it down.
Oh, by the way: On the same day that Carlozo and over 50 newsroom staffers who were laid off by the Tribune, the company petitioned bankruptcy court to dole out $13.3 million in bonuses to over 700 workers.
About an hour ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on a bill introduced in the Senate that would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits:
Under the legislation, newspapers would operate as nonprofits, having 501(c)(3) status. This equates to newspapers operating for educational purposes, similar to public broadcasting. Doing so would prevent papers from making political endorsements, but they would still be allowed to openly report on all matters, including political campaigns.
If I find any buzz around the Web on this, I’ll be sure to let you know. Yep, there’s buzz:
So says Alex Pickett, former Loaf writer who spent 10 hours yesterday listening to final-day testimony from both Creative Loafing, Inc. and its creditor, Atalaya Capital Management, which is seeking to take over the company. Alex’s analogy:
In the Terri Schiavo case, both her family and husband agreed that Ms. Schaivo was in bad shape. No argument there. She had been diagnosed as being in a permanent vegetative state for years. And, just like in Creative Loafing’s case, both sides knew, no matter what, she’d never be the same woman again.
But while the husband (Atalaya) wished to pull to the plug on the whole matter and start anew, her family (Eason) insisted she wasn’t that bad off and maybe even getting better!
I also worked for Creative Loafing, from August 2006-January 2009.
The rich keep getting richer. But not if Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal can help it. The New Haven Independent reported yesterday that Blumenthal is attempting to block bonuses to executives at the New Haven Register, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Feb 21:
The filing included a proposal to give 31 “key” executives $1.7 million in bonuses — some termed “shutdown bonuses” — if they meet certain goals. Those goals mainly consist of shutting down newspapers and firing 450 more full-time employees by March 31 (for a total of 590 to date). …
With Creative Loafing, Inc. heading back to bankruptcy court later today to keep lender Atalaya Capital Management from taking control of the company, how fitting that CL should also get its close-up in the just-released State of the News Media:
In September 2008, Creative Loafing, which owns six alternative weeklies across the country, filed for projection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.
The filing came a year after the firm, which is based in Tampa, purchased two of the biggest and best-known alternative weeklies in the country, the Washington City Paper and the Chicago Reader.
According to the CEO, Ben Eason, the bankruptcy filing had nothing to do with this acquisition and everything to do with hard economic times. “I’m filing because the economy sucks, he said.”4
Nonetheless, Creative Loafing was hit by hard economic times while it was trying to pay off $40 million in debt, part of which was a $15 million loan to help purchase the two papers. 5
A bankruptcy judge is expected to decide in 2009 if one of the largest creditors, Atalaya Administrative, could declare the loan in default and take control of the company.
Washington City Paper takes a dig at its owner, Creative Loafing, in this March 13 Morning Roundup by Mike Riggs:
Also, Wayne Garcia of Tampa’s Creative Loafing has a great update from yesterday’s CL bankruptcy case, in which someone–can’t say who–tells a fib or two about the state of company morale.
It’s fairly obvious that Riggs is talking about CL CEO Ben Eason. Here’s the relevant passage from Garcia’s post:
The AP is reporting that Philadelphia Newspapers LLC CEO Brian Tierney and two other executives will give up their raises from 2008. Seems like the honorable thing to do.
As I noted in an update to my post Philly Daily News sings the bankruptcy blues, Forbes.com reported that Tierney’s salary increased nearly 40 percent as his company neared bankruptcy.
Thanks to Romenesko for the link to the AP’s story.
