I don't have any firsthand information yet, but I understand that unless the Journal Register Co. sells The Bristol Press and The New Britain Herald by Jan. 12, it will close both papers.
That means that the guy who thinks I'm a jerk who should be fired will essentially get his wish.
Like anyone who's looking at the prospect of losing his job -- compounded, of course, by my wife, reporter Jackie Majerus, also losing hers at the same time -- it's scary to contemplate finding a new position in a crummy economy. But it looks like that is quite likely going to be a necessity.
I don't know what it would cost to buy the Press, but if anyone has any thoughts about it, I'd be glad to talk with them.
And, of course, if anyone knows where we might keep getting a paycheck, I'd love to hear from you. Let's use my home email now, for obvious reasons: majerus-collins@comcast.net.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
35 comments:
Steve:
This is certainly unwelcomed news.
On the brighter side, though, I believe you and Jackie have been wasting your talents in Bristol. Could this door closing be the opening of more lucrative opportunities for you both? Change is good most of the time, anyway.
And as the idiom goes: "The cream rises to the top." You'll be fine. You are both very talented communicators.
That is bad news for you, Steve, but The Press has been steadily deteriorating for years now. The change to a tabloid was a poor decision, for starters.
I canceled my subscription after I attended city meetings and found the coverage in The Press to be nothing like what actually happened. It made me wonder if anything I had been reading was actually true.
My elderly parents are the only people I know who still get the paper, and they only read the obituaries.
I hope that some one will purchase The Press and turn it around. It would be nice to have a good local newspaper. Good luck.
I've lived in Bristol most of my 50 plus years and remember watching the "Bristol Press" being printed. As a child I went went on field trips to the bristol press. I have to admit in the past 15 yrs or so, the bristol press kind of got lost in the shuffle of new owners, I didn't feel it was "our" newspaper anymore due to the changing of owners, the newspaper I remember was aimed at "Bristols" happening and news with a few surrounding towns, now you wouldn't know it was the bristol press which is why customers cancelled the subscriptions, I wish all involved with the publication good luck in the future.
I know we should give the guy a chance to get started...but since his election the country has gone deeper into a downward slide. This suggests that the business sector which had hope for a more business friendly national administration has decided the cat is out of the bag now...close it down....sell it off take advanatge of low capital gains taxes. Too bad, many good people will be hurt because of the democrat policies that did nothing but get people into homes they could not afford. OH one more thing..they (the new guy ) will bail out Detroit...an auto industry the unions killed, just like here in Bristol. Look at Toyota and Honda that employ thousands of Americans in the "Red States"...they are not looking for tax payer bailouts.
You could officially become Art Ward's publicity manager.
Send your resume to some Democrat. I'm sure you could get a job with one of them. Why don't you apply at the House Democrats for a job?
Put it up for auction on Ebay?
Does that include the Blog too?
Does it include this blog? I don't know. If the Press closes, God forbid, I could continue doing this but not for free.
Obviously, there are lots of questions and few answers.
Personally, I'm rooting for someone with community spirit to buy the paper.
Is that going to happen? I doubt it. But you never know.
The country would be better off with locally owned papers than these large chains that view newspapers as just another commodity to profit from.
Maybe Craig Yardwill buy it: then he can dictate what he wants.
Does that mean that there won't be the Press to cover Obamas Coronation?
If the Press folds, as so many smaller newspapers already have, there won't be any coverage of anything - not arrests, not obits, not campaigns, not GASB 45, nothing at all.
I can't begin to say how tragic a blow this sort of thing is for any community and for our democracy.
I hope that the worst doesn't come to pass.
What's the asking price? I can put a change jar at Center Pizza and see what happens. =)
I can't begin to say how tragic a blow this sort of thing is for any community and for our democracy.
I hope that the worst doesn't come to pass.
Kind of like Obama's election.
Steve, I can't imagine what you and all your coworkers are feeling now, with these insensitive jerks insulting you and the Press as you face possible job loss.
They won't know what a newspaper means to a community until they don't have one to trash anymore.
The Free Press will become meaningless when there's no competition.
Online is nice; but anyone can post whatever they like regardless of whether it has any basis in fact or not. (Heck I do it for effect on mine.)
Most people can barely tell the difference from sites with "an agenda" to legit sites.
God save us; and God help you & your wife too!
Good luck; I'm sure it's going to be a PIA, but having watched & read you for a while; you should be okay.
Why doesn't someone go to bat and put the Bristol Press back the way it was and see what happens before they just fold. I had the paper delivered for years until it changed as like so many others. I enjoy the observer more it contains articles about Bristol and what is happening here. Isn't that what the people of Bristol what to read??
It makes me sick to see the JRC run these papers into the ground. They have stripped away all the resources and have let you with barely anything to stay afloat. They took the money and left you holding the bag.
Maybe Johnson, Barnes, and Schaffrick can start a petitioon.
The city needs to step in....and act now.
If you havnt already start looking for a new job! Dont think that it will be saved along with your job. I feel for you and hope everything turns out better for you and your family.
Steve and jackie:
Hang in there. I know it is tough, but someone will come along and buy it. Maybe the Tribune, Gannett or Hearst. I just refuse to except that we may loose our community newspaper. The Press needs to change their business model and give the people a reason to buy it i.e. more local news, investigative reporting, human interest stories, etc. Car ads pay the bills, but people can get that in any paper. People in this town love dirt, give it to them.
Unfortunately, The Bristol Press is partially to blame for its own demise. The paper has a strong liberal bias, and the candidate it (and most other newspapers) supported has been elected. Now the parent companies are preparing for his big-tax policies to go into effect. Hence the closing.
But we told you that would happen. Did you think we were kidding about breadlines? Actions have consequences; you have to look down the road before you vote.
The idea that the paper should offer "more local news, investigative reporting, human interest stories" and more is great, but we had that here and the paper still fell into decline. Why? Because every paper in America is tumbling off a cliff as my fellow citizens choose to ignore news or get what they can from tv and the internet.
We're on the internet, obviously, but nobody has yet figured out how to make newspaper websites online produce anything close to the revenue they'd need to provide the vast array of news that's traditionally been offered in print.
I can see how an online-only Bristol Press could function and probably make money, but it would be a tiny operation compared to the days when our printing press clanged in those big windows in the front of this old building on Main Street.
It truly breaks my heart to see what's happening to newspapers.
But I suppose the last buggy whip makers were pretty damn sad to see Model Ts whizzing along newly paved roads, too.
The future comes racing at us whether we want it to or not.
Steve the Internet is your number one enemy. Not many 20 to 40 somethings stopping to buy a newspaper anymore. Its easier to go to Yahoo to find out whats going on. Sad, but true.
Really? You're going to blame a perceived "liberal bias" in a tiny paper like the Bristol Press as a reason for its own demise?
Clearly, you know zero about what's going on in the industry or only choose to understand it on your terms.
It's really easy to pile on when somebody has already done the shoveling for you.
Steve...if the blogg goes ...where will I be able to Barrack Bash as there is more then I can handle already and the guy isn't even sworn in yet. He has a lot of nerve trying to tell THE PRESIDENT to bail out Detroit. Everyone knows that will result in failure as the AIG deal did. He is such a phoney. He thinks he can get THE PRESIDENT to do it so he can blame him when it fails...Barrack you sleeze! Can't believe I got to listen to his lies for 4 years. Let the Barrack bashing begin!!! Lets see if all you who bad mouthed the PRESIDENT can deal with it. Sorry you may leave us Steve and take this forum with you.
I really don't mind reading the Bristol Press only online as long as they put all the news and articles online, basically the entire newspaper, not just a taste. E-journalism is the wave of the future and the dead tree editions are on the way out. There is still a need for good reporters and news coverage, it is just to costly to print and distribute newspapers. Remember, computers are machines, and machines replace people's jobs.
Collectively, liberal newspapers are responsible for their own demise, yes. They and most of the rest of the media have political influence, and Obama's election has hastened the closing of those that were already on shaky ground.
Next time, the newspapers that still exist will take into account the candidates' economic policies. Because actions certainly do have consequences.
Excuse me, all you Obama bashers, but the JRC was busy looting and pillaging our community newspaper long before Barack Obama ever went to Washington, never mind got elected president. Who was in charge then? Oh, I know, George W. Bush! But even I don't blame him or the Republicans for all this. And as Steve and his wife (and millions of other out of work Americans and those working crappy low-paying jobs without benefits) try to figure out how to take their children or themselves to the doctor, you better believe they are hoping Obama and the Congress figure out some health care plan, and soon.
Turn on your flashlight.
The $30 an hour union employee sits in the bathroom all day with a newspaper. The CEO shoulders the responsibility of running the entire company, trying to make sure the company makes a profit AND pays the wages of the union employees all sitting in the bathroom. The CEO has a nearly impossible task, while the union employee's butt falls asleep. Who should get paid more?
To post 11:12 PM, 11/11/08
Again, you miss the point. What union employee ar we talking about? The CEO at AIG doesn't have any union employees!! The executives at AIG have run the business into the ground so you believe that they should be rewarded?
Not all union employees sit in the bathroom all day either. It's just so easy for you to place the blame when the problem is right under your nose and you don't do anything about it but bitch and complain about the unions.
7%, that's right, 7% of workers in the United States are unionized, are you trying to say that all the economic problems are caused by 7% of the workers? When times were good and the corporations were making tons of money there wasn't any problem with them paying the union wages. The problem is with Corporate Greed, how much money can I make while trying to screw my employees out of money I promised to pay them by offering them a contract. A contract is a contract isn't it? If you signed a contract with a builder to put a roof on your house for a set price and then the builder says that he made a mistake because the price of materials went up, are you going to say "that's okay here's your extra money? I don't think so!! Same principle with a union contract!!
What about your Mega-God, Rush Limbough? He just signed a contract for over 100 Million Dollars, that's $100,000,000.00, and you're concerned about a union employee making $30.00 an hour sitting in the bathroom, just doesn't add up.
Some one obviously thought Rush was worth $100 million and was willing to pay. Maybe that person would buy The Press?
Rush and The Press? That's apples and oranges.
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