A Buckeye Youth Movement
September 5, 2012You Can’t Underestimate the Importance of Trent Richardson
September 5, 2012Scene Magazine’s Vince Grzegorek scooped the Plain Dealer’s own story this morning-
“In an all-newsroom meeting called this morning with short notice, the Plain Dealer staff found out that publisher Terry Egger will retire January 1, 2013.
But that news was quickly shuffled aside as reporters peppered Editor Debra Simmons and Managing Editor Thom Fladung with questions about the paper’s future. Specifically, the lingering specter of going to a 3-day publishing schedule like many of its sister papers.
The answers were not hopeful. According to folks who were at the meeting, Fladung said (paraphrasing): “Change is coming. That’s clear by what the company has been doing. “
Excellent job by Vince. This move will likely effect a good number of Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com employees.
17 Comments
This is terrible news. Cities need strong, vital newspapers, not just mini-versions onlline.
If the PD goes to 3 days, I’m cancelling my subscription.
No one reads newspapers anymore.
why? I think cities need strong journalism, but I also think it can live online. And, I would say that the paper versions are usually the mini-versions. Alot more content can live online than can be printed efficiently into a paper.
The PD could save some money by dumping Livingston and Shaw. Livy wrote about the 1945 Cleveland Rams today. Shaw’s Spin column is pointless other than it gives him something to do.
It’s not the same. Each city’s newspaper is unique. Each city’s online version is just another web site. Newspapers command attention. Web sites don’t have that kind of clout.
Can web sites make enough money to pay all the reporters it takes to make a good paper? I don’t know.
Can newspapers charge subscribers for their online content? They can try, but many (probably most) people will just go somewhere else for news, and the “paper” will become even less relevant.
Regardless of whether you subscribe to a paper or not, this is an ominous development.
This can’t be good…
Dear Dan Gilbert,
Please, please, please, buy the (Indians) Plain Dealer and save it from cost cutting moves. We have been loyal (fans) readers of the paper for generations and we deserve a (winning) successful (team) paper. Invest in the product and the (fans) readers will always be loyal.
websites do not need to be “just another website” that is a choice that the publication chooses to make. there are as many, if not more, ways of presenting things online as there are in paper.
websites can make money. more money than noone subscribing to the paper (as is becoming more and more common as more businesses are eliminating the paper reception and more of the older generations move on).
it is up to the journalism industry to figure out how to make a profit, survive and provide their service. honestly, the more they go to the “shock and awe” style, the more I think they are reducing their worth. I visit specific sites for the depth. I can get the overview and headlines anywhere.
well, not idiots like you anyhow. Go tweet something or listen to dubstep
i agree, mgbode. I wonder what they said when chiseled tablets went out of vogue after the dark ages.
NEWS is derived from the word, “new.” papers don’t have NEWS anymore, just stories. These stories can be well represented by a 3-day/week publication.
“He not busy being born is busy dying.”
–Bob Dylan
Good one!
They do, but is the Plain Dealer a strong, vital newspaper? You have to produce a strong, vital, relevant product to stay in business. As with many newspapers, I think the PD is not delivering. I mean, look at their Browns coverage.
The PD has uncovered numerous instances of local government malfeasace. (And I’m not talking about the cases of DiMora et al. I’m talking about lots of other scandals.) This is the kind of work that web sites and the giggling buffoons on local TV “news” can’t or won’t do. This is a real public service and it is of great value to the community.
While I can come up with my share of complaints about the PD (e.g., their editorial cartoonist is a complete hack, and their former star columnist Connie Schultz was an embarrassment), I think the PD is one of the better papers in the country. It provides excellent value for those of us who love to read newspapers.
“their editorial cartoonist is a complete hack, and their former star columnist Connie Schultz was an embarrassment”
Exactly. They have driven away thousands of past subscribers (like me) who do not want to subsidize “hacks” who propagandize against my interests. It’s fine if it sells, but I’m not going to support it.
Also, the Browns coverage has been worse than useless.
I hear you on the value of good city newspaper, and specifically on some of the work this paper has done. I love reading newspapers too. But I’m not surprised the PD is fading. I’ll re-subscribe if things change before it’s too late.
This is really sad, as the PD is one of the better papers I’ve seen in cities other than the mass markets (NY, LA, Chicago). Currently living in Houston, their Chronicle is horrible and makes me miss the PD a lot. (Though I know the attitude of all the other posters here is the usual Cleveland response – “complain complain complain”) Cleveland.com is a joke though. If they’re going to go to 3-days a week, then they better do some crazy improvements to the website.
What killed the PD was unions. With a non-union paper, they may have survived. The only surviving papers in the future will be community weeklies. Some of those writers, thanks to the union, were tenured even if they lacked talent.