End (New York) Times (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The Atlantic ^ | Jan/Feb 2009 | Michael Hirschorn

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Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital. Most of these scenarios assume a gradual crossing-over, almost like the migration of dunes, as behaviors change, paradigms shift, and the digital future heaves fully into view. The thinking goes that the existing brands—The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal—will be the ones making that transition, challenged but still dominant as sources of original reporting.

But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if TheNew York Times goes out of business—like, this May?

It’s certainly plausible. Earnings reports released by the New York Times Company in October indicate that drastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default on some $400million in debt. With more than $1billion in debt already on the books, only $46million in cash reserves as of October, and no clear way to tap into the capital markets (the company’s debt was recently reduced to junk status), the paper’s future doesn’t look good.

“As part of our analysis of our uses of cash, we are evaluating future financing arrangements,” the Times Company announced blandly in October, referring to the crunch it will face in May. “Based on the conversations we have had with lenders, we expect that we will be able to manage our debt and credit obligations as they mature.” This prompted Henry Blodget... to write: “‘We expect that we will be able to manage’? Translation: There’s a possibility that we won’t manage.”

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It's the End of the World...

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ping

[bigbob]

blurb today says NYT is selling ads on the (once sacrosanct) front page.

Sounds kinda like pimping out...

[abb]

Regardless of what happens over the next few months, The Times is destined for significant and traumatic change. At some point soon—sooner than most of us think—the print edition, and with it The Times as we know it, will no longer exist.

[Grampa Dave]

Hey Pinch, you gay maggot, burn those cash assets like an arsonist on hire from Jersey

[JennysCool]

Directing your coverage at aging hippies while offending half of your potential subscriber base is no way to run a newspaper.

[prismsinc]

The Lord works in mysterious ways.........

[freedumb2003]

But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if TheNew York Times goes out of business—like, this May?

[DB]

Just get Krugman on it. He's the all knowing financial wizard.

Can't wait until he's out of a job.

[TheWasteLand]

Nationalization. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

[Gorzaloon]

But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if TheNew York Times goes out of business—like, this May?

It does not matter any more, as their holy mission to get Ubumbu The Magnificent elected was successful.

They can be thrown away now.

May is a lovely time for the "Journalists" to dine out, anyway.

The dumpsters are cool enough at night, and have not brought the flies yet.

[Malesherbes]

Having flunked Journalism 101, Pinch Sulzberger has just enrolled in Accounting 101.

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Nationalization. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

No need. The Obamists already get coverage as good as it gets.

[Go Gordon]

Earnings reports released by the New York Times Company in October indicate that drastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default on some $400million in debt. With more than $1billion in debt already on the books, only $46million in cash reserves as of October, and no clear way to tap into the capital markets

What idiot would willingly lend money to a company that is already $1 billion in debt, ready to default on a $400 million loan and only has $46 million in cash?

[Milhous]

They need to nationalize their audience too. They owe me in advance if they expect me to read their dinomedia crap. They owe me more for premium services such as actually reading their crap instead of skimming it.

[BluH2o]

... there’s no online substitute for institutions that can marshal years of well-developed sourcing and reporting experience—not to mention the resources to, say, send journalists leapfrogging between Mumbai and Islamabad to decode the complexities of the India-Pakistan conflict.

Perhaps if they actually deployed their resources in that manner they would still have a modicum of credibility. Instead they send platoons of journalists to Alaska to dig up dirt on Palin. Meanwhile the anointed one, the appointed one, the messiah ... gets a free ride.

[bert]

.......we are evaluating future financing arrangements.....

Since being shut out by the New York banks, feelers are out to Tel Aviv shy locks and the Embassy of Venezuela. Phone calls to Lehman Brothers were not returned.

[Milhous]

Pinch recently spent 50 mil to layoff hundreds of people leaving NYTCO with -4 mil of cash.

[TheWasteLand]

No need. The Obamists already get coverage as good as it gets.

Yes, but they need the NYT to survive, which, as your many posts attest to, it won't be able to on its own merits.