Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Deck Chairs

Oh, no ... say it isn't so! My favorite local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, is on the ropes.

According to the Hearst Corporation, the Chron lost $50 million last year, and if the company can't make major cutbacks "within weeks ... it will be forced to sell or close the newspaper."

Of course, I guess I should have seen it coming. After all, plenty of other newspapers are falling by the wayside ... most recently, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Register, Journal Register chain and the Tucson Citizen. And then the Chronicle's management appears to have wasted the past 6-12 months fiddling with fonts and negotiating a 15-year contract for a new printing plant ... otherwise known as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Even if the Chronicle survives, it will be in a significantly reduced form with a decimated reporting staff. Either way, I will miss my daily dose of Chron.

1 comment:

Deejbrown said...

Laughed out loud at "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic..." Sad to say, it's one of those "times that a-changing" things that saddens me too.