Secrets of the City

I hope Charmin buys the Pioneer Press so I can wipe my ass with it. And that’s definitely how I roll.

Whoa, Alyssa…hey, don’t hold back.

Awesome. I would love to see how an employee-owned newspaper would work.

I’d love to see that fascist pig Joe Soucheray have to out and find a job. Now if they would board up that stank hole of a radio station he works at we could cleanse the media of his fillthy backwash.

Wow…nothing like a little bile to wash down the hate.

Relax, Rich, he just wants to shutdown an opinion he disagrees with because he knows better than us what we should hear. He’s just trying to respect free speech and practice tolerance. Cut the guy some slack.

It would indeed be very interesting to see how an employee owned paper could work. I’d like to see it, but one wonders how the guild could make a paper (or 12) worth an investment when McClatchy believes the papers in question do not make investment sense.

What are the problems with a union owning the company? How will the reporters feel about columnists making more money? Will editors be elected on the basis of popularity? What power will a publisher have to negotiate with the unions? Who will decide on layoffs if we can’t make the loan payments to pay off the purchase price of the paper? Will salespeople be compensated for what they sell, or will they all get the same pay regardless of productivity? Who will decide if ad rates can be negotiated in a competitive environment? How will the paper compete if the Strib starts paying writers more than the PP? Will the circ department union be able to decide if the PP can have home delivery in Mpls? (Ever wonder why you can get the Wall St. Journal or NY Times delivered to your home every morning in Mpls, but not the Pioneer Press?) Lots of questions that should have interesting answers. I hope we get to find out.

Will salespeople be compensated for what they sell, or will they all get the same pay regardless of productivity? Who will decide if ad rates can be negotiated in a competitive environment? How will the paper compete if the Strib starts paying writers more than the PP?

Will the sports pages be eliminated because they deal with competition, merit-based awards and score-keeping? Will the food critic be eliminated because they hurt some peoples’ feelings? lol.

yeah I should just shutthellup and not speak out against the fascist pigs who MONOPLOIZE the airways.

GOOD PLAN GUYS!

See you at Applebees you Republofuckingsuboobinites.

MONOPOLIZE (sp)

Wipping asses with newspapers? An interesting premise, but nothing will ever replace my corn cobs.

truth, I think you should excercise your right to not listen to or read Joe Soucheray and other fascist pigs who monopolize the airwaves, then go blog about it and maybe write a three-chord song or something. Try to bolster your argument with something deeper than Circle Jerks rhetoric (isn’t there a little fascist pig in us all?) It’ll make you sound smarter and less angry.

Frankly, regardless of all the bile, I would love to see Tom’s questions answered. It would be an awfully interesting series of events…

This would be super-cool. Putting journalists in charge of the news is an interesting idea. Let’s do it.

There already are a handful of employee-owned newspapers out there, including the Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon), the Omaha World-Herald and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I know people who work at the first two and from what I understand, the papers both operate in a fairly normal manner — no drum circles instead of news meetings or anything like that.

Still, Tom brings up a bunch of interesting questions. I can answer one of them — Strib writers already make more than those at the Pioneer Press. It’s not much more, but it’s more. The split happened, like, 15 or 20 years ago and it’s common knowledge in both newsrooms. (Actually, the contracts for both newspaper staffs are in the public record.)

Then let’s put cows in charge of butcher shops!

Then let’s put cows in charge of butcher shops!

Let’s put butchers in charge of cow shops!

I was told the Guild pay scales were only available to Guild members. Any of you out there want to share?

Right, Tom. We’ll get those guild salaries right over to you. Actually, they won’t even let you copy the list for fear someone will post it and cause a riot. People have been known to write them down and share the most egregious examples of those who are overpaid and underpaid, however.

Although the idea has a certain kind of nostalgic glory, count me among the people who wonder how good this would be in the long-term. Most journalists I know aren’t exactly business savvy (obvs, there are exceptions).

Which isn’t to say this couldn’t work — it all depends on how they would set up the organization, choose leadership, etc. Tom’s questions are particularly salient.

My bet is that MediaNews picks the PiPress and most of the others, and then Dean Singleton becomes the most hated man in media since… Tony Ridder.

Anyway, I just stumbled across a story saying that KCBS is moving into the Knight-Ridder building in San Jose (KCBS has a rich history as being connected to MSP media, including, mostly recently, Paul Magers).

Have you tried the internets, Tom?

“See you at Abblebee’s.” Classic!

I’m excited by the idea of an employee-owned paper. It really fits MN (though it might make more sense for the Duluth N-T).

The guild contracts for both the Strib and PiPress are both easily found online.

Contracts are online, yes, but not actual pay, which varies considerably from scale. Some are at or near scale, others way over.

Strib story from last Thursday. Some answers, some more questions.

Who is Nick:

You could make them even more easily available online by posting a link here. Hint hint.

You’d think that Guild ownership of the PiPress would make for good journalism. But it won’t necessarily make for a financially successful paper. There’s a whole lot more to the newspaper business than the newsroom. You gots to sell the ads. It seems like that’s the real problem at the PiPress. Maybe because their sales staff is union as well. It just don’t make sense.

Good piece from Molly Ivins on why we need more newspapers…and why we’re getting fewer. Some sound business advice in there somewhere…if you believe in the basic proposition that Americans want to know the truth and would pay to get it. All evidence to the contrary.