Actually, the Columbia Journalism Review article that is linked to by willyweek is actually a VERY interesting story, and I can absolutely see it being repeated darn near all over the country (not just Newhouse owned paper markets).
Recommend that all read the CJR story. Its a little long, but time well spent.
Ad pages may be up for some publications but circulation is still down -- hardly translates into increased wealth; instead driven by Bernanke's squad running the printing presses at the Fed.
This is just a small part of why I so strongly believe that regular Oregonians should no longer be forced to pay top dollar for legal notices printed on dead trees. We should have a single, publicly-owned, web-based system that operates for the public benefit and provides revenue for legal aid, while slashing legal/public notice costs for the 938 special districts and local governments (meaning saving all Oregonians big dollars in taxes).
Samples from three separate months suggest that the subsidy to newspapers from legal notices in the "newspapers of general circulation" requirement is on the order of $30 million a year. The Oregon Newspaper Publishers' Assn. says that it inflated because of the tidal wave of foreclosures -- interrupted by the Niday case, which put nonjudicial foreclosures in Oregon on a brief hiatus. Even if it's only 1/3 of $30 million, it's a gigantic subsidy to the 1%, paid straight out of the pockets of taxpayers and regular folks unlucky enough to have to do a legal notice ad.
Oregon deserves better. We can have better, at lower cost, and give every single sentient being in Oregon easier, more reliable, faster access to legal notices, through a variety of means, in more languages and with consideration for people with handicaps. But we have to beat the folks who buy ink by the barrel and who have threatened to go to war to prevent this.
Comments (8)
To the barricades!!
Posted by Allan L. | March 6, 2013 12:07 PM
Does WW get the fact that dead tree media is dying and dying fast, and it's not the Newhouse's fault?
Posted by G Joubert | March 6, 2013 12:30 PM
I say the daffodils are very very pretty.
Posted by Tenskwatawa | March 6, 2013 12:54 PM
Actually, the Columbia Journalism Review article that is linked to by willyweek is actually a VERY interesting story, and I can absolutely see it being repeated darn near all over the country (not just Newhouse owned paper markets).
Recommend that all read the CJR story. Its a little long, but time well spent.
Cheers, It's Mike
Posted by It's Mike | March 6, 2013 1:08 PM
You know what really pisses me off about these guys? They are filthy stinking rich and they never even finished college. No fair!
Posted by dg | March 6, 2013 3:15 PM
Ad pages may be up for some publications but circulation is still down -- hardly translates into increased wealth; instead driven by Bernanke's squad running the printing presses at the Fed.
Posted by Newleaf | March 6, 2013 3:20 PM
That is why they are called the Newhouses and not the Oldhovels.
Posted by NW Portlander | March 6, 2013 4:40 PM
This is just a small part of why I so strongly believe that regular Oregonians should no longer be forced to pay top dollar for legal notices printed on dead trees. We should have a single, publicly-owned, web-based system that operates for the public benefit and provides revenue for legal aid, while slashing legal/public notice costs for the 938 special districts and local governments (meaning saving all Oregonians big dollars in taxes).
Samples from three separate months suggest that the subsidy to newspapers from legal notices in the "newspapers of general circulation" requirement is on the order of $30 million a year. The Oregon Newspaper Publishers' Assn. says that it inflated because of the tidal wave of foreclosures -- interrupted by the Niday case, which put nonjudicial foreclosures in Oregon on a brief hiatus. Even if it's only 1/3 of $30 million, it's a gigantic subsidy to the 1%, paid straight out of the pockets of taxpayers and regular folks unlucky enough to have to do a legal notice ad.
Oregon deserves better. We can have better, at lower cost, and give every single sentient being in Oregon easier, more reliable, faster access to legal notices, through a variety of means, in more languages and with consideration for people with handicaps. But we have to beat the folks who buy ink by the barrel and who have threatened to go to war to prevent this.
https://bojack.org/2013/02/the_dying_empire_strikes_back.html
Posted by John Gear | March 6, 2013 5:34 PM