While the Carthage Press has been trimmed from six editions to five to two, and will be published once a week beginning in April and the Neosho Daily News has gone from six to five to two, the Morning Sun is just in the baby stages of the Gatehouse genocide.
Not too long, the Pittsburg newspaper published every day of the week, then it was six times a week and after the last Saturday edition of the Morning Sun hits the streets April 8, its frequency will be five times a week.
Of course, in the view of the unnamed writer of the article explaining this to Morning Sun readers, this is the best of all possible worlds.
Saturday's paper was a lousy one anyway. Excuse me, make that "less robust than it could and should be."
Six days a week was also making it hard for the workers and their families, the article explains, though it doesn't mention that the problems undoubtedly came as a result of Gatehouse continuing to cut employees until there were not enough to put out six newspapers a week without difficulty.
But the company is on "firm financial footing," the article says.
Of course, it is.
It doesn't have to pay off its loans for a few years and it has $200 million set aside to buy even more newspapers that Gatehouse officials can cut to the bone, then cut even further, until they are virtually unrecognizable.
But no, it's a good thing for the Morning Sun.
"This is a strategic move designed to ease the burden on our hard-working team members and to allow for a more robust (get the writer a thesaurus please) weekend edition with even more of the great hyperlocal content our readers have come to demand and expect from us."
Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey may be shutting down, but apparently the P. T. Barnums at Gatehouse Media think there's a sucker born every minute.
Providing time off for the employees to spend with their families is a lousy excuse. If that were true, no business would be open six or seven days a week. GateHose has created the problem by downsizing its newspaper staffs to only three or four employees.
ReplyDeleteGateHouse needs to hire a copy editor for the Morning Sun: "This basketball program is not in a horrible situation," Johnson said when asked if he believes hiring Coach Anderson will peak the fans' interest in the program. (pique, not peak)
ReplyDeleteFunny that you are reading this online and not in print. hmmmm
ReplyDeleteIf I lived in Pittsburg, I would read it in print.
ReplyDeleteIf I lived in Pittsburg, I wouldn't read it as much as I don't read it in Neosho, Carthage and Miami if I lived there.
ReplyDeleteIf I did want to read it then I'd either read it on-line or pick one out of the trash. But no, not really.