Hard times for Twin Cities area journalists
These are hard times for journalists in the Twin Cities area.
While readers turn to their Web sites for news, features and particularly to buy on Craig’s List, Google and Ebay, the StarTribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press are cutting news staffs to the bone. Newspapers throughout the state sadly are reducing staff or not filling vacancies.
Another round of cuts was announced recently at the StarTribune, because in this business, management has to discharge people to make the numbers work. They can’t cut delivery or printing. They are reluctant to trim good salespersons.
Without the public realizing it news gathering and costly investigative reporting are slowly declining.
Why is this so important?
Because, my dear friends, newspaper staffs for the most part uncover the big news stories. Television and radio are followers. They do not have nearly the number of news reporters as newspapers.
Notice how the television and radio newscasts change after the first editions of the newspapers hit the streets.
I’m told some stations even sent a staffer to the Tribune office on Portland Avenue to pick up an edition hot off the press.
So what?
This has been going on for years.
The danger, my dear friends, is you will be the losers, because fewer people will be writing the news and more importantly digging it out. Fewer people will be writing about the injustices, the obscene salaries of executives and the politics behind the scenes.
Many of these journalists, who once wrote for the Metro dailies, now write for MinnPost.Com, a highly professional Web site for people who want to read serious and important news and commentary.
What can you do about this?
Keep paying for your newspaper subscription.
Take out a classified ad to sell your house.
Shop using an ad from the newspaper and tell the store manager you bought the item from reading about it in your newspaper.
Write management and tell them you can understand a smaller page size, but you will not tolerate any longer reducing the number of print journalists who report news you and the country need to know.
