Leftist Propaganda Ministry May Close Key New England Operations Center
Will the Boston Globe be the latest newspaper casualty? The New York Times Co. has threatened to shut down the Globe unless the union agrees to $20 million worth of concessions, according to the Globe.
Executives from the Times Co. and Globe made the demands Thursday morning in an approximately 90- minute meeting with leaders of the newspaper’s 13 unions, union officials said. The possible concessions include pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the company and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees now enjoyed by some veteran employees, said Daniel Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe’s biggest union, which represents more than 700 editorial, advertising and business office employees.
The Globe has already undergone a number cuts in recent years, and this past week, cut another 50 full-time jobs. But that’s still not going to be enough to deal with the growing losses.
Management told union leaders Thursday that the Globe will lose $85 million in 2009, unless serious cutbacks are made, according to a Globe employee briefed on the discussions. Last year the paper lost an estimated $50 million, the employee said.
The Times Co bought the New England Media Group — of which the Globe was the main property — in 1993 for $1.1 billion. In hindsight, the purchase is often viewed as one of the Sulzberger family’s worst business decisions in recent decades.
Just a few years back, Jack Welch and Jack Connors expressed interest in the Globe, which was still considered to be worth around $500 million. However, the Times wasn’t selling. By late 2008, as The Wall Street Journal noted, Barclays had valued the paper at just $20 million. And such prominent investors are no longer kicking the tires.
But that’s not surprising given the newspaper industry collapse, with ad revenue drying up. While there are plenty of smaller circulation papers still in good shape, big metro dailies have been hardest hit.
Already this year, both the Rocky Mountain News and Seattle Post Intelligencer stopped printing, and Time magazine placed the Globe fifth on its list of “The10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America.”
But the Globe closing would more dramatically affect the Boston market than Denver or Seattle. Of course, the Boston Herald would remain, but the tabloid doesn’t have the national reach or daily circulation of the Globe.
John Yemma, editor of the Christian Science Monitor, wrote today that “Boston without the Boston Globe is unthinkable.”
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“lifetime job guarantees now enjoyed by some veteran employees”
Like universities, get tenure and do WTF you like. No wonder the paper biz is failing. Universities should clean house that way. There is no excuse for not holding profs or paper employees to the same standard as the rest of us.
Ahahahahah.
Fucking die NYT.
I hope our LA Times is on the list!
“…unless the union agrees to $20 million worth of concessions,”
Is it not fun to see the lefties forced to fight among themselves for the scraps of their own economic, business, and ethical wreckage.
The Boston Globe makes up a group of disgusting liars and sadistic bastards. I can’t wait to dance on their ‘political’ grave.
I stopped subscribing to The Boston Globe years ago. Now when we get solicitations in the mail, asking for us to subscribe again, I send back their (empty) postage-paid envelopes with messages like .. “You guys aren’t journalist!” “Why haven’t you vetted Obama??”; and “Report the Truth!”. Definitely no love lost here for the death of that rag! I also heard something today about the GOVT turning some of these papers into non-profits that can’t report on candidates .. once again, “can’t afford to let a good crisis go to waste.” I’m not convinced the govt will let their propaganda outlets go down .. but in this case .. “I want them to FAIL!” It’s what they deserve; the new media is already filling the vacuum!
“Boston wouldn’t be Boston without the Globe”
And that’s a bad thing????