Three interesting observations about the newspaper industry…
Fausta:
The New York Times can never say goodbye…

“It’s been nearly two months now that I’ve been asking the NYT in every way possible to cancel my weekend delivery subscription, and by golly, they simply can’t drop me. The NYT turns up on my driveway, come what may, Saturday and Sunday.

So this morning I went and picked up the papers (I also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, which also comes out on Saturday), and I’m sitting at the kitchen table reading the WSJ while having my coffee when The Husband (TH) walks in and says,

TH: The Times is still at it.

F: Yep.

TH: You realize that it’s because of their advertising.

F: Wh?

TH: The amount they charge their advertisers depends on their paid circulation, so if they drop you and whoever many people that cancel, it affects their revenues.”

And an interesting observation by the head of the Washington Post:
Donald E. Graham, by way of the New York Times:

“The Washington Post newspaper is hurting, with advertising sales down 11 percent in the third quarter and circulation off 3.3 percent in the six months ended in September. Newsroom layoffs of an unspecified number are in the offing.

Mr. Graham said Wednesday that “2006 has been a poor year for every newspaper that I know of,” pointing out later that “during the summer, things changed drastically.

“Our print advertising revenues in the last four months have been poor, considerably poorer than I would have expected,” he said.”

Hip Hip Horray for the Media Revolution!!!
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post: You Read it here first! Commentary on the recent mid term election….
“

But blogger Jenny Hatch blames Graydon Carter and his crowd:

“They just don’t get it.

“The delusional, dinkeldorf editors at Vanity Fair just don’t get it . . .

“In this post about Vice President Dick Cheney’s interview with ABC news, I said two days ago regarding the Vanity Fair article by David Rose:

“

I’m disapointed in my fellow Neo-Cons that they have seemingly chosen to abandon the President and his policies.

“But knowing the press and Vanity Fair in particular as I do, I don’t doubt that this hit piece on the president twisted the words of the Neo-Cons and they are using this article (which will no doubt be trumped up as loudly as possible over the next three days) as an attempt to sway the voters right before the election .

“The Vanity Fair editors and their cohorts who are guilty of Media crimes just do NOT get it.

“The world has changed. No more will they be able to sway elections with an October surprise, November surprise, or last minute saturday night live sketches intended to sway people in that last minute vote.””

Funny Story
I was listening to Air AmeriKa the day of the election and the morning host, a local Boulder dude, was spewing about the election, encouraging people to get out to vote and as he finished a segment he mentioned the Vanity Fair/Neo Con story and said that the neo-cons had said something very interesting at NRO online. Then he cut away to a commercial break, and then I listened to his show for the whole next segment and he NEVER Mentioned the Neo-Con rebuttal to the vanity fair hit job the whole segment.
I suppose he just could not stomach telling his listeners that his blatherings of the past three days were completely fabricated by the “dinkledorfs” at Vanity Fair. It was really funny. I did not listen to the end of his show, and perhaps he did mention it in passing before he went off the air, but it struck me as being rather hilarious. Free Speech for us as long it is fits into our world view, but we can misquote those crazy neo-cons all we want…
Too Too Funny.
Let Freedom Ring!
Jenny Hatch