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Mar 25, 2009
Newspaper Sold
The Times Daily, a Florence newspaper, has been sold by the New York Times to the company that owns the Decatur Daily. The Times Daily story says "almost all employees will be asked to stay with the paper." That may the about the only stabiity in newspapering these days. Best of luck to the staff and the new owners!
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For many years, the TimesDaily has been kept afloat by and through their publishing operations, rather than through their newspaper and advertising sales.
ReplyDeleteTheir circulation is down, as is that of many papers.
The complaint of "free news" is, in my opinion, an invalid complaint simply because the sales of advertising is in many cases what drives the paper. Yet I also realize that advertisers want numbers (circulation/households).
There was quite a voice of outcry when the paper was purchased by NYTRNG (New York Times Regional Newspaper Group). They also owned the Huntsville TV station WHNT channel 19.
WHNT was sold not too long ago, and so it was only a matter of time before the TimesDaily was sold.
I think that with respect toward the sales of newspapers, there needs to be a new vision... one that serves the needs of the community.
Some of the greatest criticisms about the paper have been that there was a sense of disconnect with the community, a lack of investigative spirit, and a disconcerting feeling of mutuality rather than independent oversight with public accountability.
I too wish them well.