The Gray Lady’s keeper has shown its claws recently with its threat to shut down The Boston Globe unless labor unions agree to make severe cuts in staff and pay. The New York Times Co. is the owner of the Boston Globe and oversees its progress and, in this case, demise.
According to the Boston Herald, the NYT Co. “told representatives from the paper’s 13 labor unions that they must trim $20 million from their operating budgets by May 1. That may come from wage cuts, layoffs or reduced contributions to pension plans or insurance coverage. But this much is clear: If the unions don’t sufficiently trim the paper’s budget, management has threatened to shutter the operation.”
This is evidence that no paper—no matter how large or respected—is safe from massive cuts, which for the most part means most sections being trimmed or lost completely.
Which then equates to a loss of investigative coverage that usually takes longer and costs more, as well as a loss to the general attraction of picking up the paper. Is anyone seeing the cycle yet?
If print is seriously hearing its death knell, what’s with all the prolonged drama, the threats, the heartache?
Sure, ultimatums add some fear (and usually procure a quick decision) plus it could be said that such tactics are just the brutal reality of the recession but wielding this power in such a malevolent way is disastrous for the news industry, especially at a time when alliances should be not only forged but fostered, in order for all to stay afloat.
The lesion created between company and paper has been haphazardly sutured, according to AP wires on April 15, by “eliminating 2009 bonuses for management and the Globe said it [would] also rescind the 10 extra days off it initially granted to nonunion management in exchange for a 5 percent pay cut. The pay cut will remain in place through December. The unions had called on managers to lead by example by taking their share of cuts.”
The Boston Globe and the unions will still see the scar of that deal long after December passes.
What makes the threat even more disturbing is the conversation taking place about whom, if anyone would be in the market for saving the Globe. Not even Rupert Murdoch wants to invest in it, which can be seen as a good and bad thing.
For one, Murdoch doesn’t need it, this he quite well knows himself, as was suggested in The Boston Herald that if he were to purchase another paper it would be The New York Times. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, Murdoch’s empire is far too vast as it is.
But what is to come of the Globe?
For now, it is here to stay, even if it is on disability and without the help of media bigwigs. As to its longevity, that, like the longevity of the print news industry in general, is fading fast.