Goodbye, daily newspapers in Detroit

[classicman]

But but but - I was just getting into talking about it with you. <sniffle>

monnie? MONNIE??? Come back!

[classicman]

Seems as though right behind their print counterparts is the network news...

ABC News is making no secret about what is behind the sweeping staff cuts it now faces: raw survival instinct.
“I just looked out at the next five years and was concerned that we could not sustain doing what we were doing,” said David Westin, the president of ABC News, as he explained the decision last week to jettison up to 400 staff members, a quarter of the news staff, in the coming months.

The same compelling motive already instigated strategic retrenchment at ABC’s broadcast competitors. NBC, the one network with a cable news channel, MSNBC — and, not coincidentally, the only network in a sound position of profitability — has drastically pared down its operations over the last few years. So has CBS, which is losing money already and has cut about 70 jobs this year.

But with news available more places than ever, on cable channels and Internet sites, and with revenue challenged by heavy dependence on shrinking advertising dollars, the future for the news divisions at ABC and CBS remains deeply insecure.

“Long term, it’s going to get harder for these guys to exist as they are currently constructed, with the exception of NBC because it can offload the costs on MSNBC,” Michael Nathanson, an industry analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said.

Link

[classicman]

The media industry may be going through some rough times, with the landscape changing day to day, but at least one aspect is business as usual: big paydays for the people at the top.
Top executives at the country’s largest media companies continued to reel in multimillion-dollar pay packages in 2009, a year of widespread cost-cutting throughout the industry. In several cases, the packages even increased from the year before.

At the top of the list is Leslie Moonves, chief executive of the CBS Corporation, whose pay package in 2009 totaled almost $43 million, more than twice what he made in 2008, according to an analysis by Equilar, an executive compensation research firm.

Not far behind was Viacom’s chief executive, Philippe P. Dauman, who was paid nearly $34 million, a 22 percent increase over 2008. Sumner M. Redstone, who controls CBS and Viacom, was paid more than $33 million from the two companies combined.

“Anybody who reads the business section knows the margins are being squeezed at media companies, so the fact that there are these huge packages makes no sense,” said James F. Reda, the founder of James F. Reda & Associates, a compensation consulting firm with offices in New York and Atlanta.

Link

[classicman]

... unless you plan on a nice big payout from the Gov't.

The internet is a matchless device for distributing information on true, and truly disturbing, developments. Case in point: the FTC's recently released discussion draft on "reinventing" journalism.

Those who have read the 35-page document are mostly left agog by its absurd reach and its dangerous suggestions.

Among the items under discussion: Enhanced postal subsidies for newspapers, which already have their own uniquely cheap postage rates. Tax credits for organizations with journalists on the payroll. The formation of a new journalism cadre within AmeriCorps.

The estimated $35 billion required to keep traditional journalism afloat would be raised via several mechanisms, including a check-off box on tax returns. Those who are sympathetic to the industry's plight -- nationwide, they must number in the dozens -- could send a portion of their tax return to ameliorate the woes of the nation's MSM. As the report states,"If desired, this proposal could be structured to apply to commercial, as well as non-profit, news entities."

No plan is complete unless it calls for new taxes, and the discussion includes some doozies, including substantial new taxes on news aggregators on the web. Critics have quickly dubbed this plan the "Drudge Tax," but it would also impose new taxes on others, including Digg and the Huffington Post. The paper also floats a proposal to add a five-percent tax on consumer electronics, producing an estimated $4 billion annually. These funds would be distributed by the FTC.

The report also suggests that a "Fund for Local News" could be created using existing and new fees imposed by the FCC "on telecom users, television and radio broadcast licensees, or Internet service providers." These funds would be distributed directly to newspapers and other media outlets by state panels.

If written into law, this program would make the government a partner with each participating newspaper.

I'm not prone to hyperbole, but I frankly cannot imagine a greater, more odious conflict of interest than this one. As a journalist of thirty years standing, I wish I had an ounce of faith that publishers would reject the money, but I don't. After all, newspapers exist to make money, and they will quickly convince themselves they can enjoy the government largesse and remain independent in thought and spirit.

Link
Wow.

Originally Posted by classicman

... unless you plan on a nice big payout from the Gov't.

Link
Wow.

LOL....The FTC hosted a series of workshops on the Future of Journalism: “How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?” and released a pre-draft mid-level staff report exploring a wide range of options from a wide range of perspectives on whether to recommend policy addressing the issue of journalism in the internet age. The report made no recommendations or specific proposals....just seeking and gathering information from interested parties.

At the very least, one should read the FTC statement on the misinformation that has gone viral across the right wing news sites and blogs in the last few weeks, after the report was widely distributed by the FTC.

Through this document, we seek to prompt discussion of whether to recommend policy changes to support the ongoing reinvention of journalism, and, if so, which specific proposals appear most useful, feasible, platform-neutral, resistant to bias, and unlikely to cause unintended consequences in addressing emerging gaps in news coverage.”

The FTC has not endorsed the idea of making any policy recommendation or recommended any of the proposals in the discussion draft.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/06/journalism.shtm

The danger of the internet? Believing everything you read from partisan sources w/o, at the very least, looking at both sides.

In effect, the FTC held a bunch of brain-storming sessions, invited lots of people with different interests who were encouraged to toss out ideas, compiled all the ideas in a very preliminary draft report, with no comments or recommendations...a common practice in preliminary brainstorming sessions like this.

And suddenly, its government take-over of the media.

added:
I do like some of the wacky headlines, all of which completely misrepresent the actions of the FTC:

Journalism 'Reinvention' Smacks of Government Control, Critics Say
FTC: We Will Reinvent Journalism By Force
FTC Reinventing Journalism Today’s Watchdogs May Be Tomorrow’s Lap Dogs
FTC Suggests Tax on Consumer Electronics to "Reinvent Journalism"
FTC Floats Drudge Tax
Meet the Commie Behind Obama FTC's Campaign for "Reinventing Journalism"

and of course, the classic American Thinker - Putting the Watchdogs on the Payroll