Message me
Does the Chicago Sun-Times have to go out of business to prove to local journalists that their profession has no bargaining power left?
Why the Sun-Times Deserves to Die
chicagonow.com - 9 weeks ago - 603 views
19 Comments Have your say. Vote up the best responses. ↓
Reactions on the web
Latest tweets linking to this story (Share url: http://windycitizen.com/wd2t)
Latest tweets linking to this story (Share url: http://windycitizen.com/wd2t)
Invite your friendsExplore this story
Organizations: Chicago Newspaper Guild
Top Media Stories This Week
4
Comments
This commentary is missing something. Something that almost every commentary about the internet replacing newspapers is missing. You need news in order to have news analysis. The internet, on the whole, still doesn't produce much news, while newspapers still do. It may not be the best news, it may be tame and afraid of angering anyone, but it is still there. Until the internet works out an effective news-gathering model that can cover the areas currently covered by the newspapers, the news-gathering function of newspapers is near-essential (there's also TV news, though generally that is even more banal than the average newspaper, and radio news just doesn't seem to have a wide market).
The Chicago Sun Times has lead the Chicago Tribune in its investigative journalism. Such extraordinary talent deserves recognition; however, it appears that past financial mismanagement under Lord Black will deprime great journalists of their monetary due. Let's move on & keep Chicago a great two newspaper town!
Pow!
This piece helped me understand the situation with the Sun-Times unions a lot better. Upvoted. Why do they think they have any leverage at all? If the Sun-Times goes down, will there be any other businesses in the Chicagoland area looking to hire up newspaper production people?
State of the art printing press is another jewel in the tiara of the Chicago Sun Times. Investors may be more interested in the value of the physical plant than the newspaper's journalistic reputation. Remember that the The Chicago Sun Times moved to its South Ashland Avenue state-of-the-art printing facility as recent as the 1990's.
I think the ability to print stuff and distribute it at scale is still incredibly valuable, agreed. The newspaper may simply be the noisiest thing coming off the presses.
This begs the question though: How easy is it to print something other than a newspaper on those presses? Can it do glossy inserts? Mailers? Catalogues?
Another thing to consider though is that ink and paper prices are continuing to rise, despite the industry's decline. Fewer people buying these products means that those selling it have raised their prices. Kind of a no-win situation there for press operators.
That press is an undervalued asset. Investors know that the sum of the parts of the Chicago Sun Times is worth more than the whole.
One of my clients wired up the electrical in that building & its priting capabilities are world class!
Even with many advertisers switching to the Internet, four and six color printing presses remain popular with those consumer product manufacturers & automobile dealers who prefer to present their products with a bold, glossy spread!
It is the most advanced press in the area. Sadly it has had continual problems in use. Not to point fingers, but the electrical went out for at least 30 minutes earlier this week. It would be a great asset for the Trib to purchase and at $25M would be a steal of a deal.
I don't believe this type of press can handle other products. I believe it is limited to newsprint on a roll. But I could be wrong.
Somewhere, I think on the Reader, I noted that the 706 members, who include the pressmen, are the key to the operations. This is probably among the most complicated machines in this area. If the pressmen do not go along with something they can cause significant problems. And, anyone attempting to replace them will face months or even years of poor production runs and higher costs.
Here is a late edit, from Editor & Publisher noting that instead of using the Ashland plant to print a number of its weeklies, the STMG is outsourcing that to the Milwaukee Journal press. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
The Ashland plant has the capacity, but it has never had the ability: the Ashland press just doesn't work right. This is a distressing development, costing the STMG lots of money. The work should be done at Ashland.
Cshess87: Of course the news needs to remain. So does commentary. So does news analysis. The problem arises when the assumption is made that news is enough on its own to sell a newspaper. It isn't--no matter how important it is for news to keep getting told.
What amazes me is you never see a columnist throwing journalism under the bus, but journalists just keep on throwing commentators under there, blaming them and everyone else for the problems of their profession. It's getting really old really fast.
These petulant finger-pointers are the ones who want America to entrust them again with setting the cultural agenda? Really? That sure makes me want to rely on their judgment again.
Isn't the bigger problem outside even news vs. commentary? Newspapers used to be the best way to kill 10 minutes (crossword puzzles), the best way to find a movie to go to (movie listings), and the best way to see what was on sale at the big stores that weekend (inserts). Clever people have built thriving businesses that focus on just one of these consumer needs, at scale, rather than doing all of them for a relatively limited audience. This has left newspapers being the best solution for only a few problems "What's happening in my city today?" and "What are the big issues I should know about?"
And unfortunately, the number of people looking for answers to those questions is a lot smaller than the number looking for a good movie to take their boyfriend to.
Actually, I think we're seeing a double shift away from newspapers. First it went to the Internet, but now we're seeing that against shift toward mobile. Kottke has a great post on this:
http://kottke.org/09/09/your-company-theres-an-app-for-that
Once information services became mobile, searchable and instant, the game changed. You can't compete with a marketplace designed for niche information products produced by third-party, part-time programmers.
Great link.
Crazy stuff, eh?
Mike, my main problem with your blog post was that it kind of missed the larger issue here: the STNG employees (journalists and non-journalists alike) who didn't get to vote on the future of their company.
All the non-union employees for the STNG basically had their fate decided by a minority interest of fellow co-workers. And it's larger than just the Sun-Times in Chicago, but dozens of smaller, suburban papers, too, that stand to lose without any voice.
I don't think the STNG deserves to go under for this reason. It's not like everyone working for the company is saying, "Please, let's try to go out of business." Instead, it seems to be more like a few people are acting from a stance of desperation and hope that their precious union will save them. What they obviously don't get is that Tyree doesn't have any obligation to buy them on their terms. There's a lot of better places to invest $5 million (plus debt and future losses) these days -- even in this economy! -- than a newspaper.
Quoted for truth.
Commentary may be well-researched, include attribution & offer fresh news to hungry readers. Unfortunately, its easier to substitute attitude & opinion without foundation.
"Opinion without foundation"? Can you make less sense that?
The foundation of my opinion is me and my personal thought process. Funny how opinion works that way, huh?
Reading a very good bio of Mark Twain and it is amazing how much our own times are starting to resemble the wild, chaotic world of mid-19th century journalism.
Pertinent to the discussion: are newspaper unions becoming irrelevant? http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2009/09/are-newspaper-unions-becoming.html
I have continued this story on my personal blog, Chicago Carless, in today's post, "The Day Michael Miner Killed Commentary" http://www.chicagocarless.com/2009/09/23/the-day-michael-miner-killed-co...
Post new comment