Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Advertiser shrinks, but no discount on subscriptions
by Larry Geller
From today’s breaking news:
The Honolulu Advertiser today announced a third round of staff reductions, with 41 employees accepting voluntary buyouts and another 10 being laid off.
Also in the Star-Bulletin: A third round of cuts hits the Advertiser.
Along with this sad news came, in the mail, a Subscription Notice. It’s time for me to renew, it says. And although the paper is shrinking, there are fewer reporters, more outsourced articles and no editorial cartoonist, etc., the renewal rate has not been reduced. They are still asking $208 for the year. For noticeably less news.
It’s no different from candy bars that shrink but the price doesn’t change.
This is truly a sad situation for everyone, especially for Advertiser employees and their families, but also for those readers who remain loyal and value a strong local newspaper.
The best place for inside news about the Advertiser is Ian Lind’s blog.
I felt as though I were odd in my generation for regularly reading newspapers. But then, it occurred to me as I have increasingly relied on the internet to read newspapers that I am not that odd in my generation. Even years after reading Chomsky's manufacturing consent, it never occurred to me once to look at the advertising in a newspaper (so when I moved from paper to internet, I went from ignoring print ads to online ads).
I don't have too much sympathy for the newspaper who has not been able to extract surplus value (effectively or profitably) in this information age. After all, papers like the 'Tiser was the model that destroyed labor papers, local papers, etc.,. How appropriate that the internet (which at the moment can be quite democratic) is now taking its turn with the 'Tiser.
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