More layoffs

10% at a small 13,000-circulation daily in Michigan.

http://www.gannett.com/about/map/ataglance/livingston.htm

Even USA Today is down

And the Publisher jumps from the sinking ship. He denies it, naturally

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123854670808076289.html#mod=rss_media_marketing

Chicago Sun-Times files for bankruptcy

Announcement here: http://www.suntimes.com/business/1503942,sun-times-media-group-bankruptcy-033109.article

Paper's future is clouded by debt issues and tax issues from Conrad Black's thieving ways.

Interesting review of the online Detroit Free Press

Read about the episode here: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/03/review_detroit.html

Then consider this fact. That same morning I reached over to my Kindle, turned it on, made one click and I could start reading that morning's New York Times while still in bed. Much more user friendly than her odyssey.

You tell me which one you think represents the future? I know where I'd place my bets.

Playing with fire?

If the torches and pitchforks come out it will because of stories like this: http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2009/03/populist-anger-made-simple.html

Drama in Tuscon

Read all about it at the Gannett Blog http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/

25 jobs lost at the Boston Herald

There's no end in sight as of yet.

Grey Lady starts cutting

The New York Times will be engaging in layoffs and is cutting salaries by 5% "temporarily."

At least one analyst says good luck with that: http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-new-york-times-finally-bows-to-reality-2009-3

That unipolar moment didn't last long, did it?

Over at Housing Doom we hear this in the wake of China's remark about having a new reserve currency besides the dollar: After Wednesday’s festivities I’m confident that China has now made the opening gambit in its inevitable confrontation with America. The process will take a bit over 60 years and we might as well be civilized about it — since it’s going to take a while …

Kindle and coffee

For most newspaper readers, the morning paper is part of their regular routine. Maybe they pick it up off the porch in their bathrobe while their morning pot of coffee brews. Or perhaps they pick it up at the newsstand on their way to work. Or maybe it's waiting for them at the office and they start the workday by catching up on the news as they drink their coffee.

Well, I can already see that my Kindle can fit very comfortably into any of those routines, or even a new one. Most days I start off flicking on the TV to CNN to see what the big news of the day might be. But now I can just reach over to the night table and open my Kindle to the morning's New York Times -- not just delivered to my door, but delivered to my bed!

This is the real future for newspaper-style news organizations. Yes, being on the Web is important, but the Internet does not play to the strengths of the newspaper journalist. You're just a voice in the crowd.

What you need to be is the first voice in the morning, and that will comes from a Kindle-like device in the future.

30 percent newsroom cut!!

Reuters is reporting (http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52O5RU20090325) that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced Tuesday it is cutting 30 percnt of its newsroom staff!

There have been steep cuts in a lot of places, lately, but they have tended to be more in the line with the scale announced by the Houston Chronicle, which also announced staff cuts Tuesday, but "just" 12 percent.

15 percent staff cuts, pay cuts at two papers

The Lexington (KY) Herald Leader and the Charlotte (NC) Observer, both McClatchey papers, each announced staff cuts amounting to 15 percent of their work force and that remaining employees will take pay cuts. In addition there's the liklihood of 1-week furloughs before the end of the year barring a turnaround in the economics.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ilSE0udp2avqEyU8jL65w2Qq6TXgD973UC6O0