406 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

An Oregon weekly newspaper has had to lay off its entire staff and halt print after 40 years because its funds were embezzled by a former employee, its editor said, in a devastating blow to a publication that serves as an important source of information in a community that, like many others nationwide, is struggling with growing gaps in local news coverage.

About a week before Christmas, the Eugene Weekly found inaccuracies in its bookkeeping, editor Camilla Mortensen said. It discovered that a former employee who was “heavily involved” with the paper’s finances had used its bank account to pay themselves $90,000 since at least 2022, she said.

The paper also became aware of at least $100,000 in unpaid bills — including to the paper’s printer — stretching back several months, she said.

https://apnews.com/a...450dff050cc704b

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 31 December 2023 - 07:44 PM.

[Matt R.]

Black Press going under? Filed for creditor protection? Hmm.

[Victoria Watcher]

Sports Illustrated’s Publisher Guts Staff. Future Unclear

 

https://frontoffices...future-unclear/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The future of Sports Illustrated was uncertain Friday after the publisher of the iconic magazine and website laid off most or “probably all” of its guild-represented staff, its union said.

 

In a memo sent to staff viewed by CNN, the magazine’s publisher said it is “laying off staff that work on the SI brand.”

 

https://www.cnn.com/...offs/index.html

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 January 2024 - 11:10 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A former councillor in Prince George has purchased the city’s only newspaper after watching multiple outlets in other British Columbia Interior communities shut down last year.

 

Cameron Stolz is the new owner of the 108–year–old Prince George Citizen after buying the paper from Glacier Media.

 

 

https://www.cheknews...ge-b-c-1189428/

[Victoria Watcher]

An Indigenous newspaper covering communities across Saskatchewan says it is taking a "hopefully brief" but indefinite hiatus because it can't afford to pay journalists or print its next edition.

 

Eagle Feather News editor-in-chief Kerry Benjoe says ad revenue has tanked since Facebook and Instagram banned Canadian news in response to the federal Online News Act — which requires platforms to pay journalism outlets for content shared on those platforms — in June.

 

"It's grim. It's dismal. It's not a good place to be right now," Benjoe said in an interview with CBC on Tuesday.

 

Citing a loss in advertising revenue driving news outlets to shutter, Ottawa said the Act, which took effect in December, "aims to ensure that dominant platforms compensate news businesses," according to the ministry of culture and heritage.

 

But many community outlets have said their business has suffered as some companies, such as Meta, have retaliated by blocking their content instead of paying for it.

 

Benjoe said Eagle Feather has been using savings to cover wages and operating costs, but the money has run out and she hasn't taken a paycheque since December.

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...sales-1.7115589

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 February 2024 - 09:21 PM.

[Nparker]

Perhaps their audience was simply too narrowly focused.

[Matt R.]

I like the perspective the cbc takes on this issue, as if the responsibility doesn’t lie directly with the feds. Fb didn’t “ban” anything, they are just following the law and taking their hockey net and going home. Bit childish, but lately I’m more inclined to tell gov to gfts I guess so I don’t really fault them for it.

Who asked for this online news act? Were publishers and journalists really that upset with the way things were that they wanted to make them worse?

[Nparker]

CBC are exceptionally fluent in Newspeak.

[Matt R.]

I think the majority of people see it the same way, that it’s somehow Meta’s fault. Maybe I’m misunderstanding. This just feels like a reaction to a new rule.

[Nparker]

Of course it's just Meta's reaction to the Canadian government's rule, but Justin Trudeau's bought and paid for media is never going to frame the matter in those terms.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI), created by the Canadian Heritage ministry in 2019, doled out $50 million over five years. News organizations could apply and receive money to hire journalists or pay freelance journalists to report on underserved communities and issues.

The initiative was launched because at that time, the national media landscape was already dire. According to think-tank Public Policy Forum's Shattered Mirror report in 2017, 225 weekly and 27 daily newspapers had closed or merged operations since 2010.

But LJI funding is scheduled to end on March 31, and there are no answers on whether it will be renewed.

"In total, there are over 400 LJI reporters across Canada at nearly 300 media outlets serving some 1,400 local communities," said Paul Deegan, president and CEO of News Media Canada, which is one of six groups that administer LJI funding.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...xpire-1.7116950

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 February 2024 - 02:03 AM.

[Mike K.]

Of course it's just Meta's reaction to the Canadian government's rule, but Justin Trudeau's bought and paid for media is never going to frame the matter in those terms.

CBC and other media supported this.

They didn’t realize the platforms were making them money. They thought the platforms were getting rich off their links to their content, but it turns out it was a symbiotic relationship. That nobody at these agencies realized this is an example of how disconnected from reality the news industry can be.

And yes to Matt’s point, in order to not break the law, Meta had to disconnect news agencies.

[Victoria Watcher]

Interesting what Musk said this week about legacy media, and how silly it all is in light of social media:

 

https://youtu.be/ufr...5MZRc90m&t=1066

 

^ YouTube

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 February 2024 - 04:40 AM.

[spanky123]

^ Unfortunately Musk's utopian social media world doesn't exist. What we have now with X are thousands of people writing fake articles for person benefit or gain without recourse and then millions of people blindly accepting what they are being told and reacting accordingly.

 

I get free speech but there has to be a better way.

[Victoria Watcher]

[Nparker]

He was nowhere near as divisive as the current PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

“Automated tweet”? That’s odd too.

[dasmo]

Most divisive? I don’t remember seeing F*Ck Mulroney flags….

[Victoria Watcher]

A company that owns nearly two dozens newspapers in Atlantic Canada has debts of almost $100 million and is filing for creditor protection.

 

SaltWire Network made the application in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, according to court documents filed on Monday.

 

The court documents said SaltWire has more than $94 million in debt, with roughly a third of that owing to its lender, Fiera Private Debt Fund.

 

Fiera's lawyers filed an application in court on Monday saying SaltWire doesn't have the assets to pay back the money it owes.

 

"The applicants have lost faith in the Companies' management team and management has displayed a repeated failure to properly manage the Companies' businesses," said the filing by Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, which is representing Fiera.

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...cotia-1.7140521

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BREAKING: private equity firm puts SaltWire in receivership

 

https://www.halifaxe...n-receivership/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 March 2024 - 01:37 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Whitehorse Star newspaper in Yukon is closing after 124 years.

The newspaper's front page on Friday announced that its last publication day will be May 17.

An online article says the paper's owners had been working with a small group of local residents interested in buying the business, but terms could not be finalized.

 

https://www.msn.com/...ce-verthp-feeds