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Monday, March 23, 2009

Media Today in Dying Newspapers

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 5:38 PM

The New York Times is preparing for layoffs...maybe. (Of course, this morning, Twitter was awash with rumors that The New Yorker would go monthly or biweekly until this little post popped up:

ffde/1237850577-reportorshutthefuckup.jpg

So internet rumors are not always to be trusted.)

And the Ann Arbor News will publish its last edition this July. It was a newspaper for 174 years. 7 other Michigan newspapers are going to downsize this year, too. Man, Michigan must be the most depressing place on earth right now.

Comments (15) RSS

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It's not so bad, the Ann Arbor News has been a useless pile of shit for more or less my entire 30-year life. Never read it, ever.

Now the day Zingerman's Deli closes, that day will be depressing.

Posted by Dave M on March 23, 2009 at 5:42 PM

I agree with Dave. We ceased receiving the News after they endorsed Bush (!!!) in 2000 a few months after we moved there. Then, THEN, they endorsed him again in 2004 AND ran blatantly incorrect ads from churches against the gays during the "gay marriage" amendment fight. When called on it they were essentially, like, "they paid for it."

I was still surprised that the News is ceasing, though, because I figured that these local papers would be the last ones to go.

Posted by Balt-O-Matt on March 23, 2009 at 5:47 PM

Michigan was depressing before the downturn. They have the most incredible beaches and what-not, but their peninsularity and unparalleled union domination makes it hard for new ideas--and fresh produce and microbrews--to get to them, so it's been languishing as a place of noninnovation in nearly every sector of human undertaking for at least 30 years.

Also, Michiganders don't look you in the eye when you talk to them. Not sure what's up with that. But it's always bugged me.

Posted by Simac on March 23, 2009 at 5:50 PM

I've been in Michigan now for about five hours and people here -- at least in this bar in Marquette -- seem pretty jolly to me, Paul.

Posted by Dan Savage on March 23, 2009 at 5:55 PM

Michigan is especially depressing now that my gf just left me. The aa news never made sense to me.

Posted by blah on March 23, 2009 at 6:12 PM

I hope this news item wasn't brought to your attention by actually reading Sasha Frere-Jones' Twitter page.

Posted by Dougsf on March 23, 2009 at 6:19 PM

If Sasha Frere-Jones is telling people "report it out, or shut the fuck up", doesn't that mean that there is indeed a story there? And why so defensive? Hmm?

God, I love Twitter. I don't use it or anything, but my Lord, the resulting fireworks are endlessly entertaining.

Posted by trstr on March 23, 2009 at 6:29 PM

Oh, I think I could think of a few more depressing places on Earth. Darfur, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and many, many more. It's a long list.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty on March 23, 2009 at 7:19 PM

Maybe instead of this continuing Paperbased Obituary that SLOG runs, you can start a thread about some of the journalists making money from blogs...such as the Daily Kos as described by fellow journalist David Sirota in his book "Uprising" (a must read for Sloggers).

"Paperlate

Ooh I'm sorry but there's no one on the line

Paperlate

Ooh I'm sorry but rest easy no news is good news"

Posted by Genesis on March 23, 2009 at 7:42 PM

Slog keeps covering newspapers' demise like its new news.

How about doing something VALUABLE to the community and follow-up on the Blethen Times' plan to STEAL from P-I subscribers by automatically transferring their subscription $$$.

It is a CLEAR violation of Washington state law, as the Stranger itself reported. When the spokesperson from the Times told your Stranger reporter she would "look into it." that presumably means the Stranger would follow-up.

This is millions and millions of dollars being stolen by one of your biggest competitors, and you guys are just sitting around?

God forbid the Stranger have the huevos to take-on something substantial.

Posted by Dook on March 23, 2009 at 9:00 PM

Michigan - land of suicide bombers against the South.

Posted by guilder on March 23, 2009 at 10:50 PM

Jeez #10. Call and cancel your subscription and get over it. The Seattle Times will be out of business soon enough.

Posted by mel on March 23, 2009 at 11:10 PM

Unfortunately the Ann Arbor News, which used to be a good paper, declined rapidly when Booth Newspapers bought them. After that, it turned into a clone of the Grand Rapids Press (also owned by Booth.) The editorial decisions and opinions of the Press might have been OK in ultra-conservative Grand Rapids (or "God Rapids" as we Michiganders like to call it) but not in the People's Republic of Ann Arbor. That was the beginning of the end, I think.

BTW, there are still a people who aren't completely depressed here, but I think they're moving.

"Also, Michiganders don't look you in the eye when you talk to them. Not sure what's up with that."

Heh. Yeah, it's a Michigan thing ... midwestern reserve taken to the next level. We don't talk to strangers either. :)

Posted by Alan on March 24, 2009 at 5:59 AM

I used to love the Ann Arbor News.

But that was when I was a 5th grader on Grosse Isle.

Posted by Will in Seattle on March 24, 2009 at 10:00 AM

Growing up in Michigan, I can attest that it has been the most depressing place on earth for a long, long time.

Posted by Jocelyn on March 24, 2009 at 11:17 AM