Category Archives: future of newspapers

Outsourcing the Yak

Posted on March 25, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell When the staffers who produced the long-running and beloved Yak feature retired last year from the Detroit Free Press, the bosses decided not to let the award-winning employees’ departure get them down. Why rely on workers with … Continue reading →

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Screwed by Gannett, again and again

Posted on January 28, 2009 by admin

By Joel Thurtell You’d think the owner of the Detroit News and Free Press would want to snuggle up to the public. You know, in hopes paying readers won’t junk them when they dump most home delivery in March. Somehow, … Continue reading →

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Off guard: Prosecution by newspaper

Posted on January 22, 2009 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Motives are important, even in the newspaper business. And in newspapers, business is a prime motive, though often unspoken. There’s that glass wall between business and editorial, right? Advertising people don’t talk to editors and vice versa. … Continue reading →

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Get another job!

Posted on January 15, 2009 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Just call me me Mitch. Ever notice that trick the Bard of the Free Press uses to drive home a point? In a church hymn, it’s called a refrain. Well, I heard yesterday that Gannett, the nation’s … Continue reading →

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Gannett’s unpaid furloughs

Posted on January 14, 2009 by admin

This just in: Gannett has ordered one-week unpaid furloughs at all of its papers except, I’m told, at the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News. The Detroit exemptions are due to those papers’ plans to reduce print publication to three … Continue reading →

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Another Free Press first: Lay off

Posted on January 6, 2009 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Lookit what came in my email today — a memo, ostensibly from Detroit Free Press Editor Paul Anger — notifying the staff of a staff position that’s been erased. Which means, if this note is not a … Continue reading →

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Hubris and newspapers

Posted on December 19, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell I’m not the only crank who thinks newspapers have screwed themselves into the rut they’re now vociferously complaining about, giving a disproportionate amount of ink to their own woes rather than recording the financial grievances of others.. … Continue reading →

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Where are those “cosmo” readers?

Posted on December 18, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Back in 1991, I went to a meeting of Detroit Free Press editorial staff in that very impressive, wood-panelled room with the mural where imprtant meetings were held. This happened back when the Free Press still worked … Continue reading →

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Note from Ed

Posted on December 17, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Ed Wendover dropped me and a few other people a line today when he heard about the plans to degrade the two Detroit dailies into “twoly” and “threely” home delivery operations respectively for the Detroit News and … Continue reading →

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News “threely” given

Posted on December 16, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell What do you call a daily newspaper that prints itself three times a week? Thricely Free Press? Threely News? (Make that the Twoly News: Employees of the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press were told today that … Continue reading →

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