Safehaven | New York Times Threatens To Shut Boston Globe

April 04, 2009

New York Times Threatens To Shut Boston Globe
by Mike Shedlock

Deflationary news continues to hit the newsprint industry. Please consider New York Times threatens to shut Boston Globe.

The New York Times Co has threatened to shut The Boston Globe unless the newspaper's unions quickly agree to $20 million in concessions, the Globe reported on Friday, quoting union leaders.

The union officials said executives from the Globe and the Times, which owns the Boston newspaper, made the demands on Thursday morning in a meeting with leaders of the newspaper's 13 unions, the Globe reported.

Possible concessions include pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the company and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees for some veteran staff, the newspaper reported, quoting Boston Newspaper Guild president Daniel Totten.

The guild is the Globe's biggest union, representing more than 700 editorial, advertising and business office employees, the report said.

"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," the Globe report said. That compares with an estimated $50 million loss last year, the newspaper quoted the employee as saying.

The Times sought the concessions because it can no longer subsidize the Globe's losses, the report said, quoting the Globe employee, who requested anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.

The threat comes as a host of U.S. newspaper publishers have reduced staff, declared bankruptcy or shuttered newspapers to cope with a recession that has squeezed advertising revenues and with a new era in which readers seek news online.

Many U.S. newspapers have lost 20 percent or more of their advertising revenue as more people get news online for free.

I happen to be fond of the Boston Globe. I get many interesting stories from the Globe and other troubled newspapers. However, the model is what the model is. And the newsprint model simply is not working. Ad revenues are falling, internet competition is increasing, and the quality of commentary and news content from free sources such as blogs is soaring.

Therefore, I strongly advise the union to accept the concessions demanded by the New York Times. There simply is no other way that leads to survival.

Unfortunately, this is likely to be round one with many rounds to come. Pensions, benefits, and wages are headed lower and that trend is unstoppable.

Images From The Globe

The images the Globe puts together are often the best in the nation. Please consider Scenes from the recession.

Here are some stunning images of Earth From Above comes to NYC.

Those are quality images. I know quality. I have had 80 magazine cover images myself. You can see some of my images at MichaelShedlock.Com. (By the way, that site is not maintained, there are some known typos, and I am no longer active in photographic journalism although sometimes my images reappear in print).

So please click on the Globe "Big Picture" images to see some breathtaking images. I saved those links for months, not knowing quiet what to do with them. Today I knew.

I wish the Boston Globe well. I think the Globe is a quality newspaper and I hope it survives. Those "Big Picture" images alone are reason enough alone.

Mike Shedlock / Mish
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/

Michael "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/ to learn more about wealth management for investors seeking strong performance with low volatility.