Comments on: Gannett Will Cut 1,400 Jobs Nationally

By: Chris Dalton

Chris Dalton — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:00:02 +0000

Hopefully Keith Runyon will be among those that have been, or will be layed off. From personal experience and having dealt with him professionally, he is no different than the other liars and crooks who run the newspaper(i.e. people making promises and not keeping them).
It would be even better if TCJ went out of business.

By: Hillarysvillage

Hillarysvillage — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:21:41 +0000

I wish if they could come with some alternative plans to cut down the cost rather than laying off, i guess they last laid off few employees in last december

By: Steve Magruder (I, not D or R)

Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:11:57 +0000

James, what you say is very true.

However, the free market can have a way of destroying foundational elements to a working democracy, and the local newspaper is one of those elements. If and when the C-J dies, a replacement news reporting organization will be needed. Will the free market allow for such a thing? Maybe not, but it will still be an absolute necessity.

By: James

James — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:17:49 +0000

Why does anyone think the Courier Journal and other media operations are immune to market forces?

I used to laugh when people would say that news was printed “just so they can sell newspapers.”

Ah, yeahhhhh.

There used to be more than a dozen newspapers in Louisville; today there’s one. The market changes, people lose their jobs; the business model needs reworked.

Stop with all the emotionality over Gannett, layoffs and all that–it’s just business; a lot of people are being effected by this economy,really by the natural evolution of commerce, money and how it’s spent. Why should reporters and their minions be any different?

The market will be the judge; people will find and get what they want, what they need. If it’s a daily newspaper, that thing will continue to exist. If people don’t want or need it anymore, it won’t. Simple.

By: Carter Burger

Carter Burger — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:35:21 +0000

I agree with Bruce here. It’s not a problem on Broadway, it’s a problem at corporate. The world is changing. People do not get their news and information from a newspaper anymore. The problem is, corporate governance isn’t changing with the world. The problems with print journalism are being reflected in the broadcasting industry. Radio stations are being programed based on ideas from 20-30 years ago. If you don’t change and adapt, you die.

By: Chris Poynter

Chris Poynter — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:39:49 +0000

To the idiot that said the city wouldn’t miss the CJ, if it shut down, consider this:

* Without the CJ, there would be very little news coverage in Louisville. The CJ, despite cutbacks, has the largest news gathering staff in Louisville — multiple times larger than any TV station.
* Without the CJ, bloggers would have little to discuss. If you really read blogs closely, you will discover that numerous postings are simply rehashings of CJ stories. Blogs serve their purpose — and they also break news, as Rick Redding and The Ville Voice have shown many times — but they still don’t have the news capacity of traditional newspapers.

I could go on and on…but I’ll stop now.

Chris Poynter
government flack, former CJ reporter and still a CJ reader

By: john

john — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:35:01 +0000

Hmm, I can think of three on the editorial board who could be cut without anyone missing them.

By: DB

DB — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:19:05 +0000

Maybe you are right. Instead of wishing for the entire paper to cease to exist, I wish they’d can David Hawpe and Betty Baye, and as BigDaddy said, stop being parrots for the Democrat party.

I wish no ill will towards the press operators, and other such people who produce the paper.

By: Bruce Maples

Bruce Maples — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:48:09 +0000

There is still a place for good journalism via print — but the current C-J isn’t it, or isn’t ENOUGH of it.

I don’t blame the C-J. I blame Gannet. They have taken money out of the C-J for years, gutting the staff and shrinking the news hole, and then they wonder why people make fun of it and get their news online.

Gannet wants a profit margin in the 20-30% range, which is just asinine. They are driving our local paper into the ground, and when it’s gone they will walk away and say “Louisville just couldn’t support a decent daily.”

Also note — while they are cutting, the Gannet execs got large bonuses. So, their practice of sucking the money out of the C-J is paying off — for THEM.

By: BigDaddy

BigDaddy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:36:43 +0000

DB must stand for dumb butt. What a lot of us wish for is that the CJ would return to what made it a great paper before the last decade or two. Real hard hitting investigations into public wrongs by our so called leaders. Not just parrots for the Democratic party which is what they have become. Moreover, they have really became a part of the Jerry Abramson machine in that they hardly ever report about any of his wrong doings. Sad but true and it is even more sickening to see this formerly American newspaper icon to be a shell of its former self.