Another newspaper company is filing for bankruptcy. This time it's the Journal Register Co., which owns about 20 papers located near Philly and Cleveland. The company blames crappy advertising revenues.
It could also be because the company still wants to hand out bonuses for failure.
"Under a proposal filed as part of the bankruptcy case, the company has asked for permission to pay as much as $1.7 million in bonuses to 30 top officers and key employees, should the Journal Register meet certain reorganization goals, including closing more papers and eliminating more employees. Those officers have already been paid $450,000 for a previous round of cuts, according to court papers."
I love how these guys are going to give themselves bonuses for laying off people and helping to put another nail in their own chain's coffin. Not to mention the likely downgrade in quality after losing even more employees.
According to the story I read at philly.com, the company is in roughly $1 billion in debt. So these bonuses are for what? Not losing even more money?
Ah, but give them some kudos. They did sell off the corporate jet and stop management bonuses and country club memberships. Unfortunately for the lower-level employees, they also laid off at least 112 workers and closed down 34 papers.
2 comments:
So glad I stopped by and saw all your new writings. The fate of journalism is not all doom and gloom, however. For every newspaper that closes, countless news.coms and news.orgs crop up in their place. People will always need the press, and with the new more open administration there may soon be more demand for qualified journalists. Now that newsmaking has become more transparent, less people are taking what the talking heads say at face value. My heart aches for the loss of these longtime newspapers, but I do not share Ms Burnet's fear that "There are all these stories out there...that are never going to get told." Oh, they will get told. The need for stories is primal and everlasting. Only the medium changes. The reporters that can embrace the new mediums will find plenty of opportunities for expression. Those who see the end of newspapers as the end of news will step off the bus at this point, I expect. But just look at the medium in which this very discussion is occurring. If anything, the restructuring of journalism is giving more direct power to the people who are closest to the news, the writers and reporters.
I think that is starting to happen. Newspapers are also starting to realize that the Net is important and it's about time. But there are already some sites out there that do exactly what you describe.
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