Free Republic

“How many more police officers and how many families need to make the ultimate sacrifice before we start protecting them?” Stephanie Diller’s plaintive question at Saturday’s funeral for her husband, Det. Jonathan Diller, somehow turned out to be news not fit to print for The New York Times. Nor the lines that preceded it: “It’s been two years and two months since Detective Rivera and Detective Mora made the ultimate sacrifice — just like my husband Jonathan Diller. SNIP Her words made the front page of The Post and even the hyperleft Daily News; nebbishy Newsday at least put the...

Jan 18 (Reuters) - Los Angeles Times plans to lay off a "significant" number of journalists, the newspaper's guild said on Thursday, adding that they would organize a one-day walk-out on Friday to protest against the planned move. The layoffs could impact at least 100 journalists or about 20% of the newsroom in a move to address the paper's financial pressures, the Los Angeles Times reported separately, citing people familiar with the matter. "The management needs to come to the bargaining table in good faith and work out a buyout plan with us that would first articulate a clear headcount...

The Washington Post is reportedly cutting 240 employees in the 'hopes of averting more difficult actions such as layoffs — a situation we are united in trying to avoid." An email obtained by New York Times reporter Ben Mullin states that employees will be attending a 10 am meeting on October 11 to discuss the action. "Following this meeting, all eligible employees will be notified by email if their position is included in the program, and they are welcome to consider the package. Senior leaders will then share department specific information in meetings to follow throughout the day," the email...

Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner believes that Donald Trump will eventually be convicted—revealing in a Sunday morning interview which ongoing investigation he predicts will result in such unprecedented legal consequences for a former president.Trump faces a slew of legal battles and investigations, with two of them now being overseen by a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland on November 18. One of those Justice Department probes is looking into whether the former president is criminally liable for the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, and his efforts to unconstitutionally overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 election win.The Justice...

The Washington Post fired its political reporter Felicia Sonmez on Thursday after she publicly criticized the paper and her colleagues for nearly one week straight. Sonmez started internal drama at the company when she called out fellow reporter Dave Weigel on Twitter for retweeting an alleged sexist tweet last week. Weigel retweeted a tweet that joked, “Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it’s polar or sexual.” Sonmez shared a screenshot of Weigel’s retweet and said, “Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed!” On Monday, the Post suspended Weigel for...

On Friday, TIME shared a thread on Twitter to do with "COVID Questions," sparking very little confidence that we can get back to normal when it comes to the Wuhan coronavirus. The person asking has been fully vaccinated, received their booster, and has had the virus. The lengthy thread from TIME is full of the most fear-mongering answers, despite how this person has done everything they could have done to protect themselves, from vaccines to natural immunity. The experts referenced in the piece do not appear to answer the question, based on the points made, such as how "there doesn’t...

In an interview last year, Mr. Freeman argued that the austere cuts enacted at his newspapers reflected a more realistic understanding of the industry’s direction and better positioned Alden-owned publishers for the pandemic’s downswing. “We were prepared for a real step down in terms of a recession because we were honest about what was needed in the future,” he said. “Numbers don’t lie.” The newspaper industry’s numbers looked bleak even before the pandemic. Annual advertising revenue dropped 70%, or $34 billion, between 2005 and 2018, according to estimates by the Pew Research Center. More than 1,800 newspapers closed between 2004...

UPDATE: Sources say the paper is not closing. But they are getting out of their lease as only a half dozen people have been coming into work, the rest of the skeletal staff if working from home. “They want to find a new smaller space by November 1st,” I am told. But for New York’s hometown paper not to have a home is very distressing. My source stressed: No layoffs. (There aren’t many left to lay off.) EARLIER REPORT: The New York Times reports that the Daily News is basically dead, even if it will continue on like the Walking...

McClatchy Co. filed for bankruptcy Thursday, a move that will end family control of America’s second largest local news company and hand it to creditors who have expressed support for independent journalism. The Chapter 11 filing will allow McClatchy to restructure its debts and, it hopes, shed much of its pension obligations. Under a plan outlined in its filing to a federal bankruptcy court, about 55 percent of its debt would be eliminated as the news organization tries to reposition for a digital future. The likely new owners, if the court accepts the plan, would be led by hedge fund...

You think $300 million in costs cut is a big number? Try $400 million. Or more than $400 million. Those are the internal numbers in the air as America’s two largest newspaper chains, Gannett and GateHouse, try to land their megamerger, first announced in August. ... Now, talk has gone to $400 million and beyond, into the range of nearly half a billion dollars. What does that mean? Almost certainly, even more reduction in headcount than had been anticipated... And the company won’t wait for the first of the year to begin layoffs: With immediate savings a priority, expect those...

The city of Pittsburgh will become the largest U.S. city without a daily print newspaper following the Post-Gazette’s announcement that it is ceasing publication of its Tuesday and Saturday editions. The 232-year-old Post-Gazette announced in June that it planned to scale back print editions of its daily newspaper, while leaving the schedule of its digital version unchanged. “It’s the year 2018, and with the way people review and expect to review information and news, we think we’re doing the right thing,” said Block Communications Inc. vice president of legal and government affairs Keith Wilkowski in a statement. “We will be...

BOSTON — The Boston Herald is declaring bankruptcy and has agreed to be sold to GateHouse Media. See more at link..

SHIFT IN THOUGHT   Millennials have been subscribing to online news outlets in numbers three times greater than any other group, a study found. Those interviewed say their decision to pay goes beyond civic philanthropy. NEW YORK—Nearly every day during the routine clatter and bustle of her subway commute earlier this year, Shand Thomas began to notice more of her fellow riders shouldering The New Yorker magazine’s beige and black-emblazoned tote. Then she began to see people walking around with the literary magazine’s shoulder bag – a promotion offered only to subscribers. And when a number of her friends began...

The New York Daily News, a tabloid that once boasted one of the highest daily circulations in the nation, has been sold to tronc, the Chicago-based former Tribune Publishing company, the companies said Monday night. The News, a nearly 100-year-old media company, is based in Manhattan and was owned by Mortimer B. Zuckerman. “Adding an iconic media property like The Daily News not only expands our tremendous portfolio of newspaper brands, it also allows us to grow our digital platform and broaden our services for advertisers and marketers,” Dearborn said.

Peddling fake news does not, in fact, equate to a long-term successful business strategy, reporters for The New York Times are learning the hard way. The Gray Lady, which many in the media class consider the pinnacle of the information business, is struggling so much financially that reporters are expected to be laid off from the publication, along with many editors, the New York Post reports. “Reporters at the New York Times could soon be ‘vulnerable’ to the ax,” the Post’s Keith Kelly wrote. “If the ongoing round of voluntary buyouts being offered to editing staff does not get enough...

Reporters at the New York Times could soon be “vulnerable” to the ax. If the ongoing round of voluntary buyouts being offered to editing staff does not get enough takers, the Gray Lady could begin another round, NYT Executive Editor Dean Baquet recently warned his top department editors. “Up until now, the company had not indicated that layoffs would happen if targeted numbers weren’t achieved,” Grant Glickson, president of the NewsGuild, told Media Ink. As part of the NYT’s ongoing restructuring of its editing ranks, 109 copy editors have had their jobs eliminated. There are estimated to be about 50...

Circulation of daily newspapers has dropped to a 77-year low, signaling an end to print and a shift to all-digital delivery, according to a new industry review. The Pew Research Center said that circulation has reached a new low of 34.6 million, six million less than papers sold in 1940.

The New York Times is warning its staff that budget cuts and staff reductions loom as the paper looks ahead to the future, according to a study by the outlet about how the newsroom will operate in the future. Dean Baquet, New York Times’ executive editor, and Joe Kahn, managing editor, said that the outlet’s transformation would require budget cuts and lead to a “smaller and more focused newsroom,” a move that will prompt buyouts and layoffs, which are expected this year. "We view this moment as a necessary re-positioning of The Times newsroom, not as a diminishment,” they said....

In two op-ed articles for the New York Times‘ Sunday Review, the Gray Lady attacks Breitbart News and its founder, Andrew Breitbart, and encourages an effort to “destroy” the company by appealing directly to advertisers not to support the website. One article, “How to Destroy the Business Model of Breitbart and Fake News,” written by someone actually called “Pagan Kennedy” (was “Antichrist Roosevelt” not available?) celebrates the flagging effort of anonymous Twitter trolls who have tried to target and intimidate companies whose ads appear alongside Breitbart News articles, via third party platforms. These would-be censors of the totalitarian left have...

Remember when The NYT reported that its ad hoc campaign to boost revenue by selling subscriptions in response to the vicious back and forth with Donald Trump, was said to be a smashing success? Perhaps it was subscriptions for the crossword puzzle because it appears the monetary success was not smashing enough, and according to a just released note from executives Arthur Sulzberger and Mark Thompson, the newspaper will vacate at least eight floors in its iconic building, allowing it to "generate significant rental income" because it is "frankly, too expensive to occupy this many floors when we don’t truly...