Media
Daily Paper Awash In Red Ink
September 29, 2008 
Don’t look for any extended coverage in the Daily Paper. They can’t afford it because their McClatchy parents are running through cash like drunken sailors.
Last week the company slashed 1,150 jobs at their 50 newspapers– its second major round of reductions in three months. They reportedly lost six newsroom positions in Boise because of declining ad sales.
As if a debt of $1,175,000,000 (In English that’s one billion one hundred seventy-five million) isn’t enough, their financial guys were slick enough to renegotiate the debt so they get to pay an even HIGHER interest rate. They also agreed to put up more collateral–like the worn out press in Boise perhaps?
Quarterly dividends were slashed by 50% to 9 cents per share, payable Oct. 6 to shareholders as of Friday, giving the company more cash to reduce debt. Meanwhile their CEO in Sacramento got an $800,000 bonus and free rides on the company jet….does a BAILOUT seem needed?
The GUARDIAN takes no joy in seeing the demise of a once great newspaper and an Idaho institution. If things get bad enough, perhaps a local buyer will be able to acquire the pressless paper and make it a community player and not just a pawn in the game of media chess.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Sep 29, 2008, 11:23 am
As a one-time drunken sailor, I take umbrage with your comparison of my erstwhile brethren to the wholly unimaginative daily rag!
; )
Sep 29, 2008, 5:31 pm
Well run businesses flourish in good times and “make” it through tough times. A newspaper is no different than any business that produces a product for public consumption. When any business is mis-managed, in the long run it fails. Now is not the time to wax poetic about the noble past of the Idaho Statesman! Poor management decisions, political leanings to the left, or the right, coupled with a lack of true journalistic capabilities, will seal the fate of the Statesman. So be it! Businesses come and they go! Maybe the next publisher of the daily newspaper in Boise will do a better job!
Sep 30, 2008, 10:34 am
I’m thinking of subscribing to the printed SUNDAY edition for the first time in a year or so. They have a promotion going on – 52 weeks for 26 bucks. Seems just about right. But… will the newspaper last for another 52 weeks?
(When I was a kid, I delivered it, and collected. 35 cents for 6 days, 45 cents would get you the Sunday paper, too.)
Oct 1, 2008, 10:03 am
Seems that the paper is mismanaged and has made many dumb decisions.. As an example, the made the paper size smaller and the resulting type smaller,claiming the it was easier to read.. When the majority of their daily readers are retired seniors with declining vision.. The they took the numbers from the classifieds so nobody can find what they want in a hurry. They preach their own political agendas at every turn, instead of just reporting the news. Sad because most of us still enjoy getting a local paper.. Maybe someone will take it over and run it like a paper for the people who read it without dictating their views!I know many people who quit the paper because of their left leaning editorials..
Oct 3, 2008, 6:11 pm
As a former Statesmanite, longtime journalist and news junkie and a bit of a traditionalist, watching the Daily go slowly down the drain over the past several years has been painful.
I still read it (when I can spare the 10 to 15 minutes it takes to read all the way through it), then go to The Boise Guardian, Boise Weekly and assorted onliners to find out what’s going on.
The paper started out as a triweekly, deteriorated into a try weakly, and now to (apparently) a hardly try at all.
It’s gradual name change in public view from The Idaho Statesman to The Idaho Mistakesman has added to the pain.
It’s obvious they no longer have copy editors who plod through every word to make sure facts are accurate, words are spelled correctly and used correctly, each headline matches the story it’s on, etc.
Now, just to give readers something new to gripe about, they’ve eliminated on Fridays the most popular section of the paper — Life — and jammed some of its features into Scene. What’s next, shove Business into Classified? Oh, wait, they already did that. Maybe they could slip Sports into some of the Albertson’s or Fred Myers insert ads?
Oh, well; at least they’re helping fight pollution: Fewer people driving to work each day means less auto exhaust.
(Help me out here; there must be *something* else nice I could say about what’s happening at the Daily.)
Oct 3, 2008, 6:15 pm
C’mon, machine, just accept the damned comment and let me get on to something else.
And why are you saying, “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” Whatthehell does that mean?
My motto is, “Nothing in moderation.”
So accept the comment — or don’t — but send it on its way; don’t just leave it sitting here on my screen.