Idiot Boston Globe Sportswriter: Conservatives Should Like the World Cup Because They Fascists or Something

Since liberals eat, drink and sleep politics, nothing is off-limits when it comes to taking cheap shots at conservatives. The past few days we've seen the cranky left hopping on the World Cup bandwagon in order to bash conservatives who dare to voice an opinion about soccer. All it took was an offhand comment from Glenn Beck and the folks living off our dime over at NPR took the ball and ran with it. Ace gently reminded them why it is soccer never has and never will capture the public imagination here in America because, you know, we have other, more prominent sports here we play and pay attention to.

I never played organized soccer as a kid because in the NYC neighborhood I grew up in we played baseball, basketball and football. That's it. Sure, there were some other activities kids had, but as far as team sports were concerned, that's all we had, so that's what you played. If I walked out the door with a soccer ball or some golf clubs I'd have found myself very lonely, or getting whacked around with a 9-iron.

Now I enjoy watching some World Cup games and follow the games to some extent. I'd love to see the USA fare well and enjoy watching some of the finer teams such as Brazil and Germany, who tend to make other teams look dreadfully inferior, as was the case Sunday when the Germans overwhelmed Australia.

Somehow since I, liked the rest of the planet, voiced my distaste about the incessant noise produced by the vuvuzelas, that has now incurred the ire of some Boston Globe hack who hates to bring politics into everything like the right supposedly does, but he just has to speak up since we're all just a bunch of xenophobic, fascistic yahoos because the noise everyone is complaining about gets on our nerves.

In case you missed it, the American Right is all a'tizzy about the World Cup. They're not having any of this, by God. Some of them have even abandoned Americanism entirely and lined up with the Cheating French Bastards on the issue of vuvuzelas -- which, I am sure, most of them believe is some sort of synonym for the naughty bits of which they've all heard rumors around the old campfire.

I have heard endlessly about how it is liberals who a) wedge their politics into every aspect of modern life, and b) go through life desperately afraid that someone, somewhere, is having fun. (In the conservative formulation, this usually means that the Someone is smoking a big cigar and lining up his next ex-wife.)

To my knowledge Rush Limbaugh hasn't mentioned the World Cup, likely because he's been on his honeymoon, but that doesn't stop Pierce from taking a swipe at him. He's heard endlessly how liberals wedge their politics into every aspect of modern life and goes about making our case. Thanks, Chuckie! The notion the right is upset any time people are having fun is patently absurd. We're the ones with a sense of humor and honestly, when was the last time you saw a Democrat laugh? Surely not anyone in Washington I've seen lately. Liberals are incapable of being funny or taking a joke, which is why they walk around miserable with a permanent scowl.

So Pierce wonders why it is we couldn't enjoy a game yesterday between Paraguay and Italy.

Look, kids. People aren't enjoying the World Cup because they're liberals. They're enjoying the World Cup because it's a Big Honking Deal and Americans love Big Honking Deals, and they're enjoying it because live daytime sports provide an excuse to duck out of work and into a cool, dark place that sells beer to watch Paraguay draw with Italy, two countries that conservatives historically should embrace, if only for nostalgia's sake. I mean, really, guys. Don't you have birth certificates to chase down? Lighten up, Francis.

How subtle. See, we should like a game between Paraguay and Italy because Paraguay was at one time run by a dictator and Italy 70 years ago was run by Mussolini.

Oh, OK, I get it now. We're all fascists and like dictators. Gee, that's a novel take from the left. OK, Charles, I'm all on board now. I bet you can't wait until the North Korea match so you can root along with your Communist pal Kim Jong-Il.

Remember, though, it's those of us on the right who inject our politics into everything. Using the World Cup to call people fascists is just telling the truth or something.

Boston Globe Columnist Reacts in Classy Fashion

No wonder the Boston Globe, owned by the New York Times, is in such deep trouble. Here's what their readers get the night of one of the most cataclysmic elections in memory: All of you people are just a bunch of drunks seduced by Scott Brown.

I’m going to need some Advil and a cold compress, please. I’m the Massachusetts Electorate, and I have what is bar none the absolute worst hangover of my entire voting life.

Seriously, I was so drunk on power, so caught up in the moment, so free of any of my usual inhibitions, I can’t remember what’s gone on these last two weeks. Think, Electorate, think. What did I do?

This much I’m starting to remember. Martha and I walked into the party and everything seemed to be going fine. She wasn’t talking much, but she never really does, and she wasn’t exactly pushing me to bare my soul, either. That’s what I’ve always liked about Martha: She’s a low-maintenance politician.

And now I’m vaguely recalling that stranger across the room, the one in the barn jacket who kept smiling at me and seemed to know my name. Martha vanished for a while, and – is it bad that I’m saying this? -- I didn’t really care.

Suddenly, that tall, handsome man was standing at my side doing something that Martha rarely did – offering to pay for drinks, chatting me up, curious what was on my mind.

Every time I ever tried telling Martha about my day, my hopes, my dreams, she shushed me up and said she was preparing a legal brief or watching Law & Order. And now there’s a stranger telling me he could change my entire world.

Scott! That was his name. Lived near the outlet stores. Talked a lot about being smarter with money. I know, not like Martha, who always had some expensive home renovation project up her sleeve.

And then, I remember that time itself seemed to stop. The mundanity of everyday events gave way to the exhilaration of my suddenly unpredictable existence. No more Martha taking me for granted. No more Martha calling all the shots. I was living the moment, immersed in the life I always wanted before caution overwhelmed desire.

We were on the dance floor, Scott and I, moving to the music, his hands all over my body politic. Everyone was watching, and I mean everyone – fellow partygoers, bartenders, passersby staring in the windows. Look at me, the Massachusetts Electorate, the bellwether of America!

I think I took my shirt off. I think I didn’t care. I remember something about Scott in a pair of Calvin Klein jockey shorts, but it may have been a picture he showed me from his wallet.

It actually gets dumber, if you can believe it. The writer is savaged in the comments. These two sum it up nicely:

Another low point for the Globe, Brian you need some counselling.
...
Ok, this seals the deal - I'm subscribing to the Boston Herald.

Who wrote this drivel? Did some thirteen year old girl steal Mr. McGrory's laptop and write an entry for her diary?

Boston Globe Results: Coakley Defeats Truman

What are these morons thinking?

Not so fast.

In a premature online Dewey beats Truman moment, boston.com today posted an online map of Massachusetts voting results declaring Attorney General Martha Coakley the winner of today’s special U.S. Senate election.

Whoops.

There’s only one problem, guys - the polls are open until 8 p.m.

“It was a test on a tool and it meant nothing. I don’t know how these things happen,” said the executive assistant to the editor of boston.com. The editor, David Beard, has yet to return a call to the Herald.

The boston.com map called the race for Coakley 50 percent to state Sen. Scott Brown’s 49 percent. Independent Joseph L. Kennedy, no relation to the Kennedy clan, comes in last with a mere 1 percent

Small consolation: Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's district on Cape Cod.

NY Times 'Bullies' To File Notice Shuttering Boston Globe

This is like watching the Crips and Bloods in a street fight. Both parties are so loathsome you can't root for a winner. You just hope they inflict enough wounds they both eventually die off.

The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England's most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks.

After down-to-the-wire negotiations did not produce millions of dollars in union concessions, the Times Co. said that it will file today a required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law.

The move could amount to a negotiating ploy to extract further concessions from the Globe's unions, since the notice does not require the Times Co. to close the paper after 60 days. The deadline, however, would put the unions under fierce pressure to produce additional savings, and the Boston Newspaper Guild promptly called the step a "bullying" tactic by the company.

Some industry observers have expressed skepticism that Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. would want his legacy to include the shuttering of the Globe, which his company bought in 1993.

But the Times Co. itself is under strong financial pressure. It recently mortgaged its new Manhattan headquarters, borrowed $250 million from a Mexican billionaire at 14 percent interest, laid off 100 newsroom staffers and cut salaries by 5 percent.

A couple of weeks ago we noted how John Kerry was lamenting the loss of his local newspaper. I guess he hasn't convinced his wife to pony up the $20 million to keep it open.

More here.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Last Rites for the Boston Globe?

The countdown is on for the employees and unions at the Boston Globe to accept $20 million in concessions as demanded by the New York Times Co., otherwise it's the end of days for that newspaper.

With a midnight deadline looming that could determine the future of the Boston Globe, the newspaper's largest union said it has offered cuts in wages and benefits that "should be more than adequate" to meet the demands of the New York Times. Co., which has threatened to shutter the paper unless it gains millions of dollars in concessions from its unions.

The Times Co. is seeking $10 million from the Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents more than 600 editorial, advertising, and business office workers - half the $20 million the company is seeking from all the paper's unions.

Yesterday, Teamsters Local 259, which represents more than 200 drivers who deliver the paper, said it has offered enough concessions to meet the Times' demand for $2.5 milion from its members.

Meanwhile, some can barely contain their glee.

The honorable Reverend Carr is already presiding over the rituals.

I know, they can’t brag enough about their Pulitzer prizes, like they’re on the level or something. Seriously, the limousine liberals who pass the Politically Correct Pulitzers around among themselves every spring ought to rename them the Olbermanns and run the awards ceremony live on MSNBC. Truth in advertising.

I’m sure Pinch Sulzberger this weekend is fielding phone calls from his Park Avenue squash partners, the Beautiful People who’ve been pulling strings over the last decade or so to line up no-work sinecures at the Globe for their shiftless offspring.

Belatedly, the Globe has been trying to present as its public face the salt-of-the-earth types in the backshop, guys who live in towns like Weymouth and went to work at the paper out of high school.

These are the same blue-collar Massachusetts natives that the bow-tied bumkissers upstairs alternately disdain or despise as mean-spirited bigots who can’t be trusted to vote the “right way.”

Outside the employees themselves and a few limp bloggers, nobody cares about the Globe’s demise. Let the epitaph be: Smug Is Not a Workable Business Plan. These pampered poodles assumed they had a monopoly. Nobody ever has a monopoly, at least not for long.

I’ll miss the old Globe. It was a laff-riot - remember in 2006 when its crack sports columnist previewed the Final Four matchup between George Mason and LSU, except there was no such game. They were in opposite brackets.

One last thing to all my dear friends on the Boulevard.

We’re not hiring.

Newspaper Circulation Crumbles

Sure, people are cutting back on non-essential purposes during a bad economy, but I suspect even if were were enjoying a robust economy many of these newspapers would still be losing readers.

But this is as bad as it gets. Check that. It'll probably get worse.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations released this morning the spring figures for the six months ending March 31, 2009, showing that the largest metros continue to shed daily and Sunday circulation -- now at a record rate.

According to ABC, for 395 newspapers reporting this spring, daily circulation fell 7% to 34,439,713 copies, compared with the same March period in 2008. On Sunday, for 557 newspapers, circulation was down 5.3% to 42,082,707. These averages do not include 84 newspapers with circulations below 50,000 due to a change in publishing frequency.

The percent comparisons are for the same period ending in March 2008. (All daily averages are for Monday through Friday.)

Daily circulation at The New York Times dropped 3.5% to 1,039,031. The Times' Sunday circ was down 1.7% to 1,451,233.

The Washington Post lost 1.6% of its daily circ to 665,383 and 2.3% to 868,965.

USA Today, as reported earlier this month, lost 7.4% of its daily circulation to 2,113,725 due to a decline in hotel copies.

Daily circulation at The Wall Street Journal was up a fraction 0.6% to 2,082,189, but this was certainly the exception, not the rule.

Daily circulation at The Boston Globe skidded 13.6% to 302,638 copies. Sunday decreased 11.2% to 466,665.

New York's Daily News was off 14%, but rival New York Post lost even more, at minus 20%. The Star-Ledger of Newark shed over 16%. Newsday, by comparison, lost 3%*.

Daily circulation at The Miami Herald fell 15.8% to 202,122. Sunday is down 13.1% to 270,166.

San Francisco Chronicle shed 15.7% of daily copies to 312,118. Sunday fell 16.5% to 312,118.

Tribune Co. papers rolled out highly touted redesigns in this period, but lost readers. The Chicago Tribune lost 7.4% of its daily circulation to 501,202 and 4.5% on Sunday to 858,256 copies. Circulation plunged at the Los Angeles Times at 6.5% of its daily circulation (Monday through Friday) to 723,181 copies. Sunday was down 7.4% to 1,019,388.

The Philadelphia Inquirer lost 13.7% of its daily circulation to 288,298. Sunday was hit just as hard, down 12% to 550,400. Daily circulation at its sister publication the Daily News fell 7.6% to 99,103. (At the end of March the Inquirer started distributing the Daily News within its pages. The change does not affect the circulation for this period.)

Daily circulation at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution plummeted almost 20% to 261,828. Sunday decreased 7% to 462,011.

The top 25 in circulation are listed here.

These plummeting figures can't be strictly blamed on newspapers losing readers due to a liberal slant, especially when the one paper you could say that has a conservative op-ed slant, the New York Post, dropped 20%. Since the Post is owned by News Corp. (as is the WSJ), I'd expect them to weather this. However, some of these newspapers are hemorrhaging so may readers and losing ad revenue at record rates they just may not survive with a print model. Moving strictly online is already being done with some large dailies and that may be the only avenue of survival at this point.

Linked at Instapundit. Thanks!

Another Black Eye for the NY Times

As the New York Times continues to hemorrhage money and the Boston Globe appears headed for the dustbin (unless John Kerry can bail them out), we now have the entertaining spectacle of greedy executives at the Old Grey Hag getting fat pay hikes while employees fret about their future.

This is just too delicious.

Here's an idea for the staffers. Since the Times is always in a high dudgeon over executive bonuses at profitable companies, how about they go protest outside the lavish home of their bosses?

As the New York Times struggles to hold onto its dwindling pile of cash, its board is getting slammed by angry employees for hiking top executive pay as much as 35 percent.

Employees face 5 percent pay cuts at the flagship newspaper, while its sister Boston Globe is under the threat of a permanent shutdown unless its employees accept steep pay cuts and layoffs worth $20 million to management.

"At one point in the negotiations, the company proposed eliminating all sick days for Guild members, like an Alabama sweat shop," wrote Globe reporter Brian Mooney on HuffingtonPost.com

How humiliating must it be that these Globe writers are reduced to posting at the web's house organ for hate?

The Times woes grew yesterday as Standard & Poor's cut its credit rating deeper in junk territory.

The downgrade could hike the Times' already high interest costs on corporate borrowing, such as the 14 percent rate on the $250 million the Times borrowed in January from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu to make ends meet. The Times also paid an extra $4.5 million to close the deal.

Blogs continued blistering Times brass and the Sulzberger-family dominated board for hiking management perks and pay while squeezing employees.

CEO Janet Robinson, for example, won a 35 percent jump in total compensation to $5.58 million this year from $4.14 million in '08, according to filings.

Predictable: John Kerry Calls For Boston Globe Bailout

Just yesterday we wondered when the call for a government bailout of newspapers would come.

Today the hapless John Kerry takes the bait.

Troubled by the possible shuttering of his hometown paper, Sen. John Kerry reached out to the Boston Globe on Tuesday, then called for Senate hearings to address the woes of the nation's print media.

"To the Boston Globe family," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote to employees of the 132-year-old publication, which faces closure unless it can come up with $20 million in union concessions to parent company the New York Times by May 1. The Globe is losing $1 million a week.

"America's newspapers are struggling to survive, and while there will be serious consequences in terms of the lives and financial security of the employees involved, including hundreds at the Globe, there will also be serious consequences for our democracy where diversity of opinion and strong debate are paramount," Mr. Kerry said.

Really? Diversity of opinion at the Boston Globe?

Who is he kidding? OK, let's see, we have Jeff Jacoby on the right.

And everyone else on the left.

This is diversity?

Maybe Lurch can pick up The Boston Herald when the Globe goes under. He might even find some diverse opinion there.

Mr. Kerry, who has called for Senate hearings on "the future of journalism" to begin May 6, also cited the negative influence of "agenda-driven reporting" and media conglomerates.

It's in no small part due to agenda-drive reporting why the Boston Globe is going under.

Is the junior senator from Massachusetts too incoherent to see that? Also, I can't see any more an egregious a waste of time and money than having the Senate debating anything to do with newspapers.

If Senator Kerry is so concerned the Globe can't come up with $20 million to help pay off their unions, why doesn't he have Mama T cut a check for them?

Heartbreaking: NY Times Ad Sales Plunge 27%

No amount of Pulitzers is going to help reverse this slide. The only question I have is when does the government bailout come?

The New York Times Co. fell into a deeper financial hole during the first quarter as the newspaper publisher's advertising revenue plunged 27 percent in an industrywide slump that is reshaping the print media. Its shares dived Tuesday.

The owner of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune and 15 other daily newspapers said Tuesday that it lost $74.5 million, or 52 cents per share, in the opening three months of the year. That compared with a loss of $335,000 at the same time last year, which was break-even on a per-share basis.

The results in the most recent quarter included charges totaling 18 cents per share to cover the costs of jettisoning employees and other one-time accounting measures.

Even with those charges stripped out, the loss was much worse than analysts expected. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted the New York-based company would lose 4 cents per share.

Revenue for the period dropped 19 percent to $609 million -- about $22 million below the average analyst estimate.

New York Times Co. shares fell 83 cents, 14 percent, to $5.02 in morning trading.

The disappointing performance was driven by a nearly $124 million decline in the Times Co.'s ad revenue from the same time last year. While most of the erosion was concentrated in the Times Co.'s newspapers, its Internet ad revenue also sagged by 8 percent, or $3.6 million.

NY Times: Health Care for All! Kind Of

The New York Times wants health care for all Americans -- with the small exception of their laid-off employees.

The union that covers the Boston Globe’s reporters and advertising staffs is accusing the New York Times Co. of ignoring its duty to cover most of the cost of laid-off workers’ health insurance.

“What they are doing is illegal and totally irresponsible,” said Dan Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild. At issue is the continued health coverage of some 100 former Globe employees laid off in recent months.

According to Totten, the company is supposed to pay 65 percent of each laid-off worker’s monthly health insurance tab under what is known as COBRA. Totten accused the company of violating a new federal law that requires the company to contribute that share.

Under that law, he said, the Globe is required to lay out the COBRA money upfront and get reimbursed by the government.

Company management did not respond to a request for comment. Totten detailed his accusations in a letter dated Wednesday to Globe Publisher P. Steven Ainsley.

This is rich. The New York Times has been pushing hard for universal health care and has railed against greedy corporations and now we find out they haven’t been paying their fair share of health insurance for their laid-off Boston Globe staffers. Typical do as I say not as I do lefty mentality.

Death Knell For the Boston Globe? Could Be Shut In a Month

Considering their owners are hemorrhaging money, this was inevitable. Now they face a stark choice: Massive unions givebacks or no jobs at all.

The New York Times has threatened to shut down the Boston Globe if the paper doesn’t come up with $20 million in cuts within 30 days in a dramatic act of brinksmanship at the beleaguered broadsheet.

The new draconian demands come just days after the latest round of layoffs at the Globe.

Boston.com and two sources with direct knowledge said the Globe’s out-of-town corporate masters have presented the unions with a stark and painful choice: Agree to massive cuts within a month or face closure.

After a 90-minute meeting Thursday between Times and Globe executives and officials from the paper’s 13 unions, Daniel Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild, wrote members that, “They are looking for financial concessions from all unions.”

Totten said the concessions could include pay cuts, elimination of lifetime job guarantees given to some employees and an end to pension contributions by the company, boston.com said.

A union official briefed on the meeting said the concessions include salary and overtime cuts - and furloughs were also brought up in the meeting.

Catherine Mathis, spokeswoman for the fiscally troubled Times, and Globe spokesman Bob Powers declined to comment.

Other sources said word of the meeting and its dire message sent a shockwave through a newspaper that has been battered by bad news and decimated by layoffs - including the loss of the equivalent of 50 editorial staffers through buyouts and layoffs during the past week.

The Globe lost some $50 million last year and stands to lose $85 million this year without “serious cutbacks,” boston.com reported, quoting a Globe source. That same source said the Times can no longer subsidize the Globe’s losses.

Unfortunately, I put away the world's smallest violin for the night.

On the upside, there could soon be a new wave of unemployed journalists available to go to work for the Democrats.

Via Jules Crittenden on Twitter.

Death Spiral: NY Times Earnings Plunge 48% in Fourth Quarter

Try to contain your sorrow.

The New York Times Co. said Wednesday that fourth-quarter earnings plunged 48 percent and online sales fell for the first time as the recession depressed spending by advertisers. The results still beat analyst estimates, and its shares rose nearly 10 percent.

The Times also announced it has retained investment firm Goldman Sachs to help explore a sale of its 17.8 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, Fenway Park, a portion of a cable sports network and other properties.

The Times company, which publishes the Times, The Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune and 16 other daily newspapers, earned $27.6 million, or 19 cents a share, in the October-December period, compared with $53 million, or 37 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2007.

It really was a banner year fore the old gray hag.

For the full year, the Times reported a net loss of $57.8 million, or 40 cents a share, compared with net income of $208.7 million, or $1.45 per share, in 2007. Sales fell 7.7 percent to $2.95 billion.

Such rousing success recently earned them Moody's junk status.

Name That Party: Massachusetts Edition

While it goes without saying a corrupt politician in Massachusetts is likely to be a Democrat considering the GOP is virtually extinct in the state, it would be nice if somewhere in this four-page story that a party affiliation was mentioned, if only for the edification of out-of-state readers. But no, that basic fact is conveniently omitted.

I'm not sure what's more entrenched up there: Corrupt Democrats or the media bias at the failing Boston Globe.

You might recall Dianne Wilkerson. She really know how to fill out a bra. With cash.

Christmas Firesale: NY Times Looks to Unload Share in Red Sox

The Old Gray Lady has transformed into a decrepit, wheezing hag desperately gasping for air. After noting Wednesday their ad revenue was cratering, word now comes they're so desperate for cash they're looking to sell their share in the Boston Red Sox.

The New York Times Co is trying to sell its stake in the holding company of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the discussions.

The sale, which could give the Times desperately needed cash as newspaper advertising revenue falls and its debt payments loom, could involve its 17.5 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures and possibly the struggling Boston Globe daily newspaper, the Journal reported.

New England Sports Ventures owns the Red Sox, the Fenway Park baseball field where the team plays, and most of the cable network that shows their games.

A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment.

The Journal report comes on the same day that the Times Co reported a 20 percent drop in advertising revenue in November, compared with the same period last year.

But wait, there's even more good news. Dig this:

The Times previously refused to sell the Globe after former General Electric Co Chief Executive Jack Welch and former advertising executive Jack Connors reportedly asked about the possibility. At the time, they valued the Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper at $550 million to $600 million, the Journal said. Barclays now values the Globe at about $20 million.

How long until the federal government bails these folks out? The Democrats already own the media. They may as well just assume official ownership.

H/T Radical Ron.

NY Times Ad Revenue Craters

I have a suggestion for them. Maybe they can just make up another story blaming George W. Bush.

In the meantime, let them suffer. They deserve zero sympathy.

The New York Times Co's November advertising revenue fell 20 percent, the company said on Wednesday, illustrating how the financial crisis is aggravating dizzying revenue declines at U.S. newspapers.

Ad revenue at the publisher's New York Times Media Group, which includes the Times newspaper, fell 21.2 percent from a year earlier because of a drop in real estate and jobs classified advertising.

Studio entertainment, automotive, book and financial services ads also were weak, the Times said in a statement.

The New England unit, which includes The Boston Globe newspaper, as well as the group representing its other U.S. papers, also fell.

Total company revenue fell 13.9 percent.

Most publicly traded newspaper publishers release monthly numbers because Wall Street scrutinizes them for sometimes minute changes, and their stocks often can rise or fall by significant amounts as a result.

For the Times, the numbers are important because it is trying to meet its 2009 debt obligations and reduce borrowing. At the same time, it is trying to save money as the newspaper business worsens.

Oh well.

Thanks to Ace for the link.

Good News: NYT Circulation Plummets

More grim news for our friends at the NY Times.

It's not just them. Other leftwing Big Media outlets such as the Washington Post, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe also dropped.

Of course, they'll probably blame Bush rather than looking in the mirror. There was a slight increase at the Wall Street Journal with a larger increase at USA Today.

Print circulation continues on its steep downward slide, the Audit Bureau of Circulations revealed this morning in releasing the latest numbers for some of the country's largest dailies for the six-month period ending March 31, 2008. When a full analysis appears it is expected to find, according to sources, the biggest dip yet, about 3.5% daily and 4.5 for Sunday.

The following circulation compares the new data to the same period a year ago. Daily circulation is the Monday-Friday average.

--The New York Times lost more than 150,000 copies on Sunday. Circulation on that day fell a whopping 9.2% to 1,476,400. The paper's daily circulation declined 3.8% to 1,077,256.

--At the Washington Post, daily circulation decreased 3.5% to 673,180 and Sunday dropped 4.3% to 890,163.

--Meanwhile daily circulation at The Wall Street Journal grew a fraction of a percent, up 0.3% to 2,069,463 copies. USA Today experienced a greater increase. Circulation was up at the national daily 2.7% to 2,284,219.

--Daily circulation at The Orange County Register plunged 11.9% to 250,724 and Sunday fell 5.3% to 311,982.

--In Los Angeles, the Times lost more than 40,000 daily copies. Daily circulation there was down 5.1% to 773,884. Sunday declined 6.0% to 1,101,981.

--The San Francisco Chronicle reported that daily circulation dropped 4.2% to 370,345 while Sunday dropped 3.0% to 424,603.

--The Boston Globe's daily circulation fell 8.3% to 350,605. Sunday declined 6.4% to 525,959.

--The Miami Herald reported daily circulation lost more than 11% with 240,223 copies while Sunday dropped 9% to 311,245.

--Daily circulation at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution declined 8.5% to 326,907 while Sunday fell 5.0% to 497,149.

See if you can figure out what all those papers who lost readers have in common.

Antique Media Quagmire: Major Newspapers Struggle, May Need Stimulus Package

The inexorable death march toward irrelevancy for the old-guard media continues apace, as several major outlets that exist to try and influence you to vote Democrat continues to sink into the morass.

Naturally, they blame it on the economy, but some of these papers, the New York Times in particular, have been hemorrhaging readers and money for years, even when the economy has been robust, which is basically the past six years.

The New York Times Co. (NYT) and two other newspaper companies reported weaker revenue for the fourth quarter Thursday as an economic slowdown continued to hammer classified advertising.

Media General (MEG) and E.W. Scripps Co. (SSP) also posted weaker results as lower political advertising revenue from broadcasting and a particularly bad economic slump in Florida hurt both companies.

The Times swung to a net profit of $53 million from a loss of $648 million a year earlier, when it recorded a big charge to write down more than half the value of The Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which have been hit by regional economic weakness and the consolidation of key advertisers.

But the Times' revenue also fell 7.1% in the quarter, or 1.7% without the effect of an extra week falling in the year-ago period, to $865.8 million, missing analysts' expectations. After posting gains in October and November, revenue weakened in December, Chief Executive Janet Robinson said, mainly on poor results in classifieds as well as retail.

Excluding one-time charges in both periods, the Times' earnings came to 44 cents a share, down from 46 cents a share a year ago.

What they don't report is readership continues to plummet, meaning fewer eyes for the advertising and classified, thus those looking to but the ads and classified are turning to other outlets more, be it television, radio or (gasp!), the Internet.

H/T NJDhockeyfan.