Suicidal, leftist newspapers die by their own hand

McClatchy news conglomerate files bankruptcy to shed costs of print and speed shift to digital

We’ve all heard of the term, “death by a thousand cuts,” which describes a series of miscalculations culminating in a slow and painful demise. The newspaper industry is stunningly illustrative of that idiom. Bonded to delivering a leftist perspective and delivering daily insults to readers, many have not only fallen victim to the digital age, but also to their own venomous spews aimed at President Trump.

The “Letter from Leadership,” signed by Chief Executive Officer Craig Forman informing that McClatchy newspaper publishing company has filed for bankruptcy begins with these ominous words:

On February 13, 2020, we announced that we are commencing a restructuring under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to provide McClatchy with immediate protection while we pursue approval of our proposed restructuring plan and work to definitively address the Company’s funded debt, strengthen our balance sheet, and address our pension obligations moving forward.”

While this is obviously a sad milestone after 163 years of family control, McClatchy remains a strong operating company and committed to essential local news and information,” said Kevin McClatchy, chairman of the company that has carried his family name since the days of the California Gold Rush. “While we tried hard to avoid this step, there’s no question that the scale of our 75-year-old pension plan – with 10 pensioners for every single active employee – is a reflection of another economic era.” Read more here.

This dismal admission is accompanied by a YouTube video, titled, “McClatchy Transformation,” in case its employees and debtors have difficulty grasping the words. A notice accompanying the video notes “comments are turned off.”

A separate Bloomberg Report foretells the coming death of newspapers. Charles Munger, a newspaper company executive as well as a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. vice chairman, said U.S. newspapers have no future.

“Technological change is destroying the daily newspapers in America,” Munger said Wednesday in Los Angeles at the annual meeting of Daily Journal Corp., the publishing company where the billionaire businessman is chairman. “The revenue goes away and the expenses remain and they’re all dying.”

Berkshire, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett, announced last month that it would sell off its newspaper holdings.

Seeing Red AZ has frequently written about the death spiral in which the Hillary-endorsing, open borders promoting Arizona Republic newspaper has placed itself. Most recently the local Gannett publication made the news as an albatross with this Phoenix Business Journal headline, “Analysis: Arizona Republic’s circulation decline among steepest for Gannett papers.” A success-based business model takes root in not routinely lobbing insult-laden spit wads at paying customers. This strategic concept is foreign to the failing newspaper that was originally known as the Arizona Republican, when it was founded in 1890. Today’s edition buries two pro-Trump articles on Page 6 of the USA Today insert. ($60M+ raised for Trump in January) and (Poll: 6 in 10 doing better, credit Trump).

Gannett has its own headaches as detailed in this Forbes Business report, Reasons Why Gannett Stock Has Yet To Find A Bottom.”