Dying NY Times: “Saving Us Is As Important As Saving Darfur”
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NEW York Times Execu tive Editor Bill Keller equated the Gray Lady to a PBS pledge drive, claiming readers have offered to donate money to keep the Times alive.
Keller was speaking at Stanford University to dedicate a new building for the campus newspaper — an event he likened to a “ribbon-cutting” for “a new Pontiac dealership.”
The bombastic broadsheet editor went on to equate the keep-the-Times-alive movement to the cause of starving African refugees, saying, “Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause.”
Keller said he had little use for Web sites like Google and Drudge Report: “If you’re inclined to trust Google as your source for news — Google yourself.”
Keller’s comments, which were first reported on Web site Politico.com, come as the Times sat down with the Newspaper Guild Wednesday in their first serious bargaining session to figure out how to extract $4.5 million in savings from the newspaper company’s unionized workforce.
There are believed to be around 1,200 to 1,300 members of the Newspaper Guild working at The New York Times, and they are apparently not ready to accept the same pay cuts that their bosses did on April 1.
“Most of the [union] council believed that the company has not gone far enough in eliminating superfluous managers and exempts who hold few responsibilities, and that most of the burdens for corporate missteps have fallen on Guild members,” said a Guild newsletter fired off yesterday.
The company agreed to look at alternatives to a wage cut, but is standing firm on its need to shave $4.5 million in costs.
The company’s proposal also includes a stipulation that will make members take an additional 10 paid days off before the end of the year.
“The Times threatens to lay off 60 to 80 workers, mainly in the newsroom, if the request is not met,” warned the Guild, which is trying to come up with a solution that prevents layoffs.
Invisible ink
It’s shrinking!
For the first time in memory, the magazine death rate has surpassed the magazine birth rate.
The number of print magazines that folded in the first quarter reached 101 titles. By contrast, the number of print magazines that launched in the first quarter totaled 95.
The figures, from Mediafinder.com, are believed to mark the first time since statistics were kept that the number of magazines to fold beat out the number of magazines launched.
“That is definitely the trend,” said Trish Hagood, president of Oxbridge Communications, which owns Mediafinder.com, which publishes the Standard Periodical Director and the National Directory of Magazines.
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