Herald Publisher's Answer To Question That Wasn't Asked

• I think the Miami Herald should go out of business. Hasn't anyone notice the last three or four bills from them. It appears the herald wants the one's who still do read the paper keep paying for there left newspaper. It's Ok, once and a while to raise your prices, but not month after month. The three households with my members have all stopped our paper and the average family has been receiving the paper for at least 15 years. My mother over 20. GOOD LUCK!! A very unhappy customer 4-16-2009 Miami/Kendall area.

• In the meantime, those of you on the death-watch can view a similar Landsberg video in Spanish. I'll let you search for it yourself on YouTube if you're interested. Enjoy!

• Apologies for the mistake above. That errant post is mine....

• Bill -- sorry I missed that, would have linked it. gb -- I'm against government subsidies for newspaper companies. Think bailing out the bloated companies would destroy the vibrancy of what's to come in journalism. I was against the TARP, too. I'm a puritanical capitalist in that sense. Basics like education and health care should be safety-netted, but business should be a raging battlefield. Thom -- I think that the post you're talking about was from someone who was rebutting your argument. For some reason they confusingly typed in your moniker.

• The Tuesday, Mar. 31 2009 @ 9:59PM posting is fake. Not from me.

• For more on topic of dying medium, ck. the new (April 6)issue of The Nation (printed). Best i've read on this issue. Would love to know what you think, Robert, about government subsidizing the press.

• I had that a week ago Bob! http://randompixels.blogspot.com/2009/03/miami-herald-publisher-dont-worry-be.html

• Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is the only option for McClatchy, the parent company of The Miami Herald -- and such a filing will happen before the end of June 2009. Count on that!

• Just can't resist it. I'm not saying all is doom and gloom, but it drives me nuts when editors and publishers who are supposedly committed to telling the truth -- so that they maintain their sole asset, credibility -- issue such obvious-to-everyone hogwash that insults the intelligence of everyone from readers to advertisers to creditors. I'm sorry, but there is not a major news media company anywhere im the world that can be described as "a strong, stable and vital organization." That is a lie -- a lie being something you say that you know is not true. That would make such people liars. As to the timing, didn't the Herald brass just have a meeting to assure the business community that all is well in the long-run?

• BOB! We have the most hyperlocal and cutting edge editorial/advertising in south FL...what was he thinking!??! :) YOU RULE

• The Herald's posting could have something to do with a "doomsday" list that's been floating around for a few weeks about the big papers most likely to go belly up. It was compiled here: http://247wallst.com/2009/03/09/the-ten-major- newspapers-that-will-fold-or-go-digital-next/ <<3. The Miami Herald, which has a daily circulation of about 220,000. It is owned by McClatchy, a publicly traded company which could be the next chain to go into Chapter 11. The Herald has been on the market since December, and but no serious bidders have emerged. Newspaper advertising has been especially hard hit in Florida because of the tremendous loss in real estate advertising. The online version of the paper is already well-read in the Miami area and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Herald has strong competition north of it in Fort Lauderdale. There is a very small chance it could merge with the Sun-Sentinel, but it is more likely that the Herald will go online-only with two editions, one for English-speaking readers and one for Spanish.>> Newsosaur, however, doesn't put much stock in the list: http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2009/03/about-that- newspaper-doomsday-list.html

• So what, Thom? Hmmm....lets see. Do you have a Knight Ridder pension, now held by McClatchy? "McClatchy hasn�t specified the level of its funding gap, so we need to await the 10K report for the real numbers. But at the end of 2007, McClatchy reported pension obligations of $1.55 billion, and plan assets of $1.38 billion, for an underfunded status of $172 million. Assuming an assets decline of 20 percent, that underfunding will have risen to $448 million at the end of 2008, which could require funding of about $65 million starting next year. That would be 18 percent of 2008 cash flow, and could become as much as 25% with a little more erosion in ad revenue. So it�s no wonder McClatchy clamped a benefits freeze on its pension plan as of the end of March." http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/02/pension-funding-gap-looms-as-another-newspaper-problem/ And look at the stock info posted earlier. It's trading at 40 cents a share now and in danger of being delisted from the NYSE, which would bring on a world of hurt with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the govt-subsidized guarantor of many corporate pensions)

• Reminder to gathering buzzards: The Tribune Company already filed for bankruptcy. Even if The Herald or McClatchy subsequently does, too, so what?

• Wow. That Youtube video of Landsberg looks like a man who doesn't believe a word he has been ordered to say. McClatchy will probably file for bankruptcy soon, my guess.

• Thom Fiddler, I'll cop to the speculation charge, but mindless? Not even close, sir. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003957357 Stock price fell 95 percent in a year. CEO compensation dropped 40 percent year over year. When the big boys start hurting, you know things are bad.

• The parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times filed for bankruptcy today. Mindless speculation or not, it's more than reasonable to wonder whether or not The Herald/McClatchy is in a boat very similar to that of the Sun-Times.

• FYI there's also a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=871d6Tf8YeQ&feature=player_embedded

• I think Bob has a very good point.

• It's a no-win situation; either you say something and open yourself to mindless speculation (Hi, Former Floridian!) or you say nothing and get hit for not "managing expectations" or some other bs. Landsberg is a sharp guy in a tough situation. Not perfect but who is?

• Announcements like Landsberg's (along with such upper-management predictions as "we don't expect more layoffs") strike me as eerily similar to those "votes of confidence" you see owners give major league baseball managers during a losing season. Something bad's going to happen; it's just a matter of when.

• With apologies to the Underpants Gnomes: 1: Create journalism 2: Publish online and in print 3: Monetize eyeballs 4: ????? 5: Profit!

• Methinks you're reading too much into this, Bob. The news companies' consultants are doing focus groups and learning that people think we're way worse off than we actually are. The Dairy Council has "Got Milk." All we've got is "newspapers are dying." Not entirely true. We're not telling our own story very well. Of all the media in our markets, we still get the most eyeballs, whether on paper or on line. Yes, the audience is fragmenting, but for goodness sake, we're getting like 50 million page views a month per county per paper web site. How is that dying? We just need to figure out how to "monetize" those eyeballs, and to make sure that people remember we're still the most efficient way to reach the most people in the local market, whether its online or on paper. Kinda sounds like the elevator speech? Yes. But it's the truth, Bob. In this chaotic media marketplace, your local newspaper, on line and in print, is still your best advertising investment.

• Bankruptcy filing in 8.....7.....

• It was in the dead-trees edition of the paper last week, Bob. Saturday, maybe. Subsequently referenced by a reader's letter to the editor, too.

• Bankruptcy filing in 3.....2....

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