Free Republic

A few days after David Adler's wife decided to leave her law firm in December, he was laid off from his job designing software at Brightcove. It was shocking. And scary. Until it wasn't. Adler has quickly learned to appreciate some aspects of his unexpected unemployment. The 42-year-old spends his days doting on his 6-month-old daughter, visiting museums with his family, and preparing for a possible exhibit of his photos at a local coffee shop in Dedham. Living off savings, unemployment, and severance packages, Adler knows he has to get a job eventually and has started the search. But for...

The Journal Register Co. has filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors and says slumping advertising revenue and circulation are to blame. In court documents filed Saturday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, company Chairman and Chief Executive James W. Hall says the recession has placed an even greater burden on an already distressed industry. The Yardley, Pa.-based publisher says it had assets of $596 million as of Nov. 30 and $692 million in debt, including unpaid interest.

The news is no longer news. It’s propaganda. It’s cheerleading for the new administration. It’s bull-roar. It’s false, fraudulent and biased. I’m talking about the major purveyors of news, the so-called mainstream media. I’m talking about The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Post, ABC, CBS, MSNC, NBC, CNN, NPR, PBS, Time, Newsweek and all the rest. The mainstream media has descended to the level of Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister and Pravda, best known as the propaganda organ of the Communist Party. But this development in the mainstream media has critically important implications not only for...

Chicago-based Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times said it is cutting 300 positions and will shrink the daily sections to four from five. The paper's publisher, Eddy Hartenstein, informed staff in a memo Friday, explaining the cuts "are designed to help us deal with the economic realities of the day." The expected savings from the move were not announced. Editor Russ Stanton said in a separate memo that the cuts will include a 70-position reduction across the editorial department, or 11 percent, in the coming weeks.

Phone companies around the world offering IPTV are expected to see a 32 percent increase in subscribers by 2014, according to a new report published by market research firm ABI Research. ABI's report notes that while traditional satellite and cable TV platforms will likely continue to retain a foothold in most markets, new IPTV services that provide interactive television will grow to nearly 79 million subscribers over the next five years.

The progression of bad newspaper news is not surprising, but the lack of concern is mystifying and frightening. Hirschhorn wrote this: The collapse of daily print journalism will mean many things……. And it will seriously damage the press’s ability to serve as a bulwark of democracy.” Ya think? Hirschhorn tossed off in one dismissive sentence one of the most crucial potential developments for journalism and democracy since the First Amendment. I think brass bands are required to force a focus on the democratic implications of what’s happening. Despite the general lack of debate and concern about the subject, I was...

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print . . . But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May? It’s certainly plausible. -- End Times, by Michael Hirschorn, The Atlantic, January/February 2009 [emphasis added] The prospect of the disappearance of the New York Times within a matter of months will bring wildly varying reactions in different quarters. Those gleefully anticipating...

The Drive-Bys have picked up on this. We have a montage from yesterday and last night. MADDOW: Hometown folks use words like sociopath, delusional and compulsive to describe their governor. BARNICLE: There's a delusional aspect clearly to Blagojevich. GERGEN: He is delusional. TOOBIN: The delusional nature of Blagojevich. COLMES: The governor was delusional. CADDELL: I've been told by people for some years that he was a little on the touched side. PAGE: He has a long reputation for being a little weird. BROWNSTEIN: These quotes from him do not suggest mental balance. BROWN: Blagojevich seemed obsessed in this crazy, manic...

The McClatchy Company, burdened by debt and a steep slide in newspaper advertising, wants to sell one of its most-prized properties, The Miami Herald, according to people briefed on the company’s plans. McClatchy, the nation’s third-largest newspaper chain, has approached potential buyers for The Herald, said these people, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue. But they said they knew of no serious offers for the paper, reflecting the evaporation of major investors’ interest in buying newspapers. The company refused to discuss the matter. Elaine Lintecum, the treasurer, said, “We do not comment on...

This can't be good: I am told that CNN has eliminated its science unit, affecting seven staffers. It's not good for many reasons but the network's science unit is one of the best in television and probably has a few dozen Emmys to prove it. Here's a statement from CNN: " We want to integrate environmental, science and technology reporting into the general editorial structure rather than have a stand alone unit. Now that the bulk of our environmental coverage is being offered through the 'Planet in Peril' franchise which is produced by the 'AC360' program, there is no need...

One of the most familiar voices in Denver is about to sign off for the last time. In October, three weeks after Ernie Bjorkman, an institution in Colorado television, signed a new annual contract worth close to a quarter of a million dollars, he was told he was being let go by KWGN, the CW affiliate in Denver, a victim of consolidation with another station. snip Across the country, longtime local TV anchors are a dying breed. Facing an economic slump and a severe advertising downturn, many stations have cut costs drastically in the last year, and veteran anchors, with...

CAN radio save itself?

A Zogby Poll, commissioned by IFC, found 37.6 percent of those asked consider the Internet the most reliable source of news while just 20.3 percent consider national TV news most reliable and 16 percent say radio is the most reliable source. Also revealed:• 39.3 percent of those surveyed trust FOX News most for the issues they consider most important, followed by CNN with 16 percent and MSNBC with 15 percent.• 72.6 percent believe the news they read and see is biased.• 88.7 percent Republican and 57.5 percent of Democrat respondents describe the news media as biased.

Palin has stood up to the major oil companies, and has made utterly transparent the State of Alaska's dealings with them, but she is neither in their pocket nor a rabble-rouser who unfairly demonizes them. She's dealt with them like a responsible public servant, not a class warrior. Stephen Spruiell was generous and self-critical enough to link today on The Corner a comment I wrote to one of my own Palin posts in which I took issue with a post by my excellent friend Ed Morrissey (formerly of Captain's Quarters) at Hot Air. Basically, I thought Ed (and, inferentially, Mr....

Today, the Los Angeles Times ordered its bloggers not to talk about the story. Here, via Kausfiles, is the memo from an editor there: Hey bloggers, There has been a little buzz surrounding John Edwards and his alleged affair. Because the only source has been the National Enquirer we have decided not to cover the rumors or salacious speculations. So I am asking you all not to blog about this topic until further notified. If you have any questions or are ever in need of story ideas that would best fit your blog, please don't hesitate to ask Keep rockin,...

At long last, has the Associated Press lost all sense of decency? The AP's story (saved here for future reference in case the wire service is embarrassed into revising it; you might consider saving it too as Exhibit A on how far over the cliff the dinosaur media has driven itself) by Douglass K. Daniel, with Jennifer Loven contributing (I might have known), gets in at least three cheap, fundamentally untrue, and totally uncalled-for shots at Tony Snow, who died earlier this morning.