People Whose Houses Were Bombed Have Told Him They Don’t Remember Hearing Anything

rocky

The Rocky Mountain News ceased publication today. 55 days shy of its 150th birthday. The paper’s staff were informed yesterday. With the Duluth News Tribune contributing significantly to Forum Communication’s annual losses, and more layoffs looming, the RMN decision makes for an even more stunning reality.

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14 Comments

hbh1

about 16 years ago

The DNT won't be far behind, judging by the dearth of content. Who's going to buy a paper with nothing in it? 

Maybe now's the time for a non-profit press.

Barrett

about 16 years ago



Rush Limbaugh slams the Duluth News Tribune and the Pioneer Press for receiving government grants to retrain their newsroom and advertising staffs to use new media.

baci

about 16 years ago

He clearly said "TEAT"

Barrett

about 16 years ago

And then pointed at his own.

pH

about 16 years ago

The rate of decline in the entire industry is stunning. Hearst Co will be releasing new e-reader for subscribers (later this year). Maybe something like a cell phone contract? Does make you think about the future value of giant printing presses, and what it means to have a "durable competitive advantage".

Karasu

about 16 years ago

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but MAJOR newspapers are having trouble — it's a no-brainer that papers in a town where nothing happens are going to feel the pinch. I feel bad for the people who are losing their jobs, but I've been living my whole (brief) career waiting for the axe to fall on my head. It has once, and it will again. Quoth my CEO: "print is dead". (While I don't actually believe that in its entirety, there's a LOT of truth in that statement.)

/not in news publishing

Craig

about 16 years ago

Luckly we have the transitor and PDD Yea liberal media

cando

about 16 years ago

oh this old rag...

dlhmn

about 16 years ago

Um, Karasu, you've got it mixed up a bit. It's expected that the major newspapers would have trouble first, because they are the ones that were most dependent on classifieds, home ads and car ads (gutted by Craigslist), and they are the ones with the most competition, and many are owned by companies that took on huge debt to buy them.

It's the papers in the little "where nothing happens" towns that, by in large, are doing the best in all this, because they've probably been largely untouched by media saturation and Craiglist, and probably are owned by smaller companies without huge debt burdens. 

Where Duluth stands... not sure. Probably somewhere in the middle.

And one other thought - all these papers closing / about to close - Rocky Mountain News, Seattle P-I, Albuquerque Tribune, Tucson Citizen - so far are in two-newspaper towns, with joint operating agreements. They have their own unique set of difficulties. The real one to watch is the San Francisco Chronicle. If / when that goes under, as some predict, in a one-paper town (media-saturated town, hit hardest by Craigslist and others, but still a one-paper town) - that's a really big deal.

cando

about 16 years ago

and print is not dead by the way, that's just silly.

TimK

about 16 years ago

The DNT had another round of lay-offs on Friday (Feb. 27). It's not that they are losing money, but that they don't generate the amount of profit that Forum would like.

Calk

about 16 years ago

Who'd they lay off now?

Evil Jeff

about 16 years ago

As for the Duluth Joke Tribune one problem it is having is that no one reads it, mostly because there is nothing left in the newspaper to read.  I knew this was going to happen I use to live in Fargo and subscribed to the Forum out there and it was about as threadbare as the DNT is getting now.  That was 15 years ago and the Forum had already cut the newspaper to nothing, I wonder if what they are delivering now is actually smaller or larger than the Transistor.

dlhmn

about 16 years ago

Duluth "Joke" Tribune? Oh, come on. You're not even trying. "Joke" does not look or sound anything like "News."

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