The Houston Chronicle will being making major layoffs Tuesday and Wednesday all across the board. Their are going to be a lot of jobless people there come tomorrow. I hope they at least get a severance package. If you know anyone that works there, keep them in your prayers that they find a job quick.
I think the ones that are doing mostly internet will be the ones to survive. Which may be the people that are getting laid off are the ones working on the "paper" side of the paper. I would think it won't be writers, but instead support staff.
I have an ex-gf who works for the Chron. Interestingly enough, until like 2 years ago, it was the exact opposite. The paper side had all the prestige. Is it sad that I'm smiling gleefully at the chance that she could get canned tomorrow? Not a good time to be in the newspaper/advertising business.
I had MANY MANY acquaintances through whom I met other people at the Chronicle. I pass by there almost DAILY when driving through downtown, and was always wondering when in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks that entire scaffolding structure and the "face lift" was going to come down. They didn't need all that. Anyway, I gotta make some phone calls and let people know and ask others if they know anything. It's not the "economy", it's just that paper isn't getting 'read' anymore and more and more peeps are using the Interwebs to read the news, plain and simple. Thank you, Mr. Wagner, sir, for the update.
The problem is that it doesn't work that way, at least from a revenue perspective. The most popular online papers in this country still make approximately 90% of their money from the print edition, despite rapidly declining print circulation and rapidly ascending online readership. It's a sad situation. Online advertising just doesn't pay anywhere remotely close to what print advertising does. Likewise, in the 90s, papers underestimated the Internet (not sure how this is possible, but remember, executives are of an older generation) and decided giving their product away for free would supplement the print edition. Many of the subscription-based online sites (WSJ is a great example) are doing very well, but newspapers accustomed readers to getting their information for free and that's a tough habit to break. Not to mention that WSJ readers are far more affluent and niche-specific in what they want than most newspaper readers, which makes it far easier to get subscribers. So, until someone finds an online advertising model that works or proves that people are willing to subscribe to a newspaper, the print edition is still the cash cow... and the death spiral will continue. What sucks the most is that people don't even realize where they get most of their information these days. Whenever you talk about the demise of newspapers to most people, the first thing they'll say is "I don't care, I get my news from the Internet anyway!" But if you actually source the stories people read on sites like this, or even like CNN, a big chunk of them come directly from local reporting. If newspapers go under, the quality of information you find online will go down too. You're still reading newspaper content as much as ever -- you're just looking at it through a different format. And of course, some will argue in favor of blogs. Again, a big chunk of blogs take their hard information directly from local newspapers. But if local newspapers weren't there, it's not as simple to say that bloggers would just step in and pick up that information. Doesn't work that way. I think most people here know I cover the Rockets some on a freelance basis, but if there's ever a big story, guys like Feigan, Fran, Solomon, Justice and others would ****ing kick my ass. They're well-sourced and connected in the organization, and that takes years of regular contact to reach that level. It's impossible for random people off the street to get the kind of information we've grown to expect. It's a full-time job and a huge commitment, and you can't find random people willing to make that commitment without a financial incentive. A lot of folks aren't going to truly realize what newspapers still do until they're gone. Best of luck to the guys at the Chron.
Looking grim for newspapers. Now, what will I read at lunch? I don't care about getting taco sauce on the newspaper, but a Kindle?
This kind of news is really bumming me out. I remember when Houston had three good papers. Well, two, if you didn't count the Chronicle, which, ironically, was the one to survive... so far. It's terrible. Really terrible. It's one of those things that many people won't realize how important it is to them and the community until it is gone. The internet model is screwed. It's killing the newspaper.
