[Chat] Fwd: Baltimore Sun is pulling a fast one on the public: Save the paper from corporate greed!

Thu Dec 1 19:17:14 EST 2005

> 
> "Noah T. Winer, MoveOn.org Civic Action"
> <moveon-help at list.moveon.org> wrote:  Date: Thu, 01
> Dec 2005 08:23:55 -0800
> From: "Noah T. Winer, MoveOn.org Civic Action"
> <moveon-help at list.moveon.org>
> Subject: Baltimore Sun is pulling a fast one on the
> public: Save the paper from corporate greed!
> 
>                    
>                              
>     The Baltimore Sun is slashing 75 people from its
> newsroom, even after raking in huge profits. With
> fewer reporters, the paper's news coverage will
> suffer. Sign the petition demanding no news cuts
> today.
>   

>     Dear Maryland MoveOn member,
> 
> The Baltimore Sun announced it is slashing 75 people
> from its news staff1, despite large corporate
> profits.2 This means watered-down coverage of local,
> state and national news. Politicians and
> corporations who should be held accountable by
> vigilant watchdog journalism will instead be covered
> by a staff that is stretched too thin.
> 
> Equally outrageous, local readers are being deceived
> about why these cuts are happening. Despite reaping
> huge profits that most businesses would envy, the
> Sun's corporate owners in Chicago simply aren't
> satisfied—they want more. Instead of admitting this,
> the Sun points to things like rising newsprint costs
> to distract the public from the real reason for the
> cuts.2
> 
> The Sun's corporate owners think they can get away
> with this because nobody is paying attention. But
> we're starting a petition to show the strong public
> opposition to these cuts. MoveOn Media Action is a
> campaign empowering regular people to fight back
> when news outlets abandon their journalistic duty to
> be a vigilant watchdog for the public.
> 
> Please sign the petition to the Baltimore Sun and
> its corporate owners demanding no news cuts by
> clicking here: 
> 
http://civic.moveon.org/baltimoresuncuts/?id=6445-4100621-o7mIUo13s3E5XIfRTHB3Sw&t=3
> 
> After you sign the petition, please forward this
> message to your friends, neighbors and co-workers
> who read the Sun.
> 
> This the 12th time in 8 years the Sun has downsized
> its staff, the most recent being in 2004.3 Larry
> Carson, a reporter in the Sun's Howard County
> bureau, said that cutting staff in the newsroom
> "would obviously affect how work is done."1
> 
> Usually companies cut employees when they're losing
> money, but the Sun makes substantial profit for its
> corporate owners. Carson said this latest round of
> cuts was surprising, especially "when you are
> dealing with a place that makes as much money as
> this place does." The Sun's corporate owner in
> Chicago, the Tribune Company, has reaped operating
> profits of over $585 million so far this year, up
> more than $93 million from the same time last year.2
> 
> Despite these profits, the Tribune Company is
> forcing many of its newspapers around the country to
> slash their staffs. On CNN, media reporter Howard
> Kurtz reported on these staff cuts and asked, "Does
> this mean the papers are losing money? Don't be
> naive. It means their double-digit profit margins
> aren't high enough to satisfy Wall Street."3
> 
> We must defend the reporters and editors who produce
> the paper each day but are silenced by their
> corporate owners and managers. We can fight these
> news cuts by forcing the Sun's corporate owners in
> Chicago to pay attention to the readers they are
> supposed to be serving in Maryland.
> 
> Please sign the petition to stop the news cuts at
> the Sun, and pass it along to others you know:
> 
http://civic.moveon.org/baltimoresuncuts/?id=6445-4100621-o7mIUo13s3E5XIfRTHB3Sw&t=4
> 
> Thank you for all you do.
> 
> –Noah T. Winer and Adam Green
>   MoveOn Media Action
>   Thursday, December 1st, 2005
>   
> P.S. The publisher of the Baltimore Sun wrote a memo
> that gave the impression of being a heartfelt
> explanation of staff cuts based entirely on the
> Sun's individual circumstances as a paper. But it
> was actually talking points distributed by corporate
> headquarters in Chicago to numerous papers for which
> it was mandating cuts. Compare and contrast:
> 
> Memo from Baltimore Sun Publisher: 1
> 
> The Sun, like most traditional media businesses, is
> in the midst of a dramatic, transformational change.
> 
> Memo from Orlando Sentinel Publisher:5
> 
> ...the media industry as a whole is in the midst of
> a dramatic, transformational change.
> 
> Baltimore Sun Publisher:
> 
> New technologies, an explosion of choices for news
> consumers, and changing lifestyles have
> fundamentally altered the media landscape.
> 
> Orlando Sentinel Publisher:
> 
> New technologies, an explosion of choices for news
> consumers and advertisers, and changing lifestyles
> have fundamentally altered how newspapers,
> television and radio do business.
> 
> Baltimore Sun Publisher:
> 
> Costs, particularly newsprint, energy and employee
> benefits, are continuing to escalate...
> 
> Orlando Sentinel Publisher:
> 
> Throw in the fact that costs, particularly
> newsprint, energy and employee benefits, are
> continuing to escalate, and it becomes clear that
> this is a complex and challenging time for us all.
> 
> Sources:
> 
> 1. "'Sun' Down: Baltimore Paper Announces 75 Job
> Cuts," Editor and Publisher, November 11, 2005
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1200
> 
> 2. "Happytown," Orlando Weekly, November 24, 2005
>
http://www.orlandoweekly.com/columns/story.asp?id=8529
> 
> 3. "Morale, and Profits, Down At the Times,"
> Washington Post, November 7, 2005
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1204
> 
> 4. Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz, CNN, November
> 27, 2005
>
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/27/rs.01.html
> 
> 5. "'Orlando Sentinel' Publisher Announces Plan to
> Cut Jobs," Editor and Publisher, November 16, 2005
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1199

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