BajaNomad - The San Diego Union-Tribune is Sold

The San Diego Union-Tribune is Sold

Gypsy Jan - 11-17-2011 at 03:06 PM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/nov/17/platinum-equi...

Islandbuilder - 11-17-2011 at 03:18 PM

My dad worked on the production side of the U/T from the late 1940's through 1964. I used to go to work with him at the old downtown plant when I was little and on summer break. Not on-topic, but it triggered some smell memories of ink and hot type.

It's Not Off Topic

Gypsy Jan - 11-17-2011 at 03:40 PM

The San Diego Union-Tribune does a lot of reporting on Baja and Mexico in general.

BTW, my dad worked as a sports writer for the long departed LA Herald Examiner.

The smell of ink and freshly printed newspapers does get into your blood.

Hasta la vista, it is the all about the electronic transmission of information these days.

Woooosh - 11-17-2011 at 04:07 PM

Any old-timers remember the smell of the mimeograph machine copies in elementary school?

I will miss the UT. I depend on the Sunday paper to line my birdcages for the week.

Does Anyone Remember the Smell of the Mimeograph Machine Copies in Elementary School?

Gypsy Jan - 11-17-2011 at 04:15 PM

Yes.

I stayed after school to help the teachers because my mother was at work.

Islandbuilder - 11-17-2011 at 04:33 PM

I was a paperboy for the U/T growing up. I guess the old bicycle-based paperboy is a thing of the past as well.....

I spent 8 years doing craft quality offset and letterpress operating. My dad bought a small print shop after 19 years at the U/T. Another trade that simply doesn't exist anymore.

Well, Let's See What the Prognosis Is

Gypsy Jan - 11-17-2011 at 04:56 PM

As the new owner, wanting to maximaize your investment, you eviscerate the pension funds.

Next you take down any credibility by firing reporters with experience, i.e, high salaries.

Oh, and then you put all advertising staff on commission only.

Maybe you keep a couple of photographers and graphic artists on staff or maybe you hire random people off the internet on a one off basis.

The people who ran the presses and delivered the papers have been ruthlessly reduced in staff over time.

All is left is the history, and nothing of the mission or commitment to journalism.

Islandbuilder - 11-17-2011 at 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by soulpatch
Dougy Manchester is going to PAY for that POS? Wow.

Hey, somebody bought Newsweek, right? (for a buck, but still....)

woody with a view - 11-17-2011 at 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Islandbuilder
I was a paperboy for the U/T growing up. I guess the old bicycle-based paperboy is a thing of the past as well.....

i was too. 47 customers in OB.

maybe now the sports page will be more than 4 pages of info, not adds..... :lol:

Islandbuilder - 11-17-2011 at 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by woody with a view

Quote:

Originally posted by Islandbuilder
I was a paperboy for the U/T growing up. I guess the old bicycle-based paperboy is a thing of the past as well.....

i was too. 47 customers in OB.

maybe now the sports page will be more than 4 pages of info, not adds..... :lol:

Yep. I had about that many in Del Mar. I sure hated Sunday mornings!

woody with a view - 11-17-2011 at 07:24 PM

i used to go find a shopping cart from the local Safeway. during the week i always had my i open for a stray one in the 'hood.

danaeb - 11-18-2011 at 08:17 AM

Speculation in San Diego is that he's really just interested in the UT real estate. UT owns prime Mission Valley property.

Bob H - 11-18-2011 at 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
Any old-timers remember the smell of the mimeograph machine copies in elementary school?

I will miss the UT. I depend on the Sunday paper to line my birdcages for the week.

Yes, we would always grab a copy and smell it! Here are some images....

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image...

Woooosh - 11-18-2011 at 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob H

Quote:

Yes, we would always grab a copy and smell it! Here are some images....

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image...

The first thing everyone did was sniff it. The origins of "huffing" I guess...

DENNIS - 11-18-2011 at 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
I will miss the UT. I depend on the Sunday paper to line my birdcages for the week.

Another thing one can't do with the online edition.
I do subscribe to it, however. I didn't mind paying 55 bucks per month [as opposed to 8 bucks for online] for the hard copy down here, but when they stopped bringing it down, coincidently at the same time that Mexico was blaming the US press for the fall in tourism, I got accustomed to reading it online.
They have recently resumed selling the paper on this side of the border but they lost me as a customer.

JoeJustJoe - 11-18-2011 at 02:46 PM

When I heard the "San Diego Union-Tribune" was sold. I had high hopes a less conservative owner brought the "Tribune." The San Diego Union-Tribune" has been known for years as being one of the few ultra conservative newspapers in a major city the size of San Diego.

When we think of great newspapers we thinks of left leaning papers like the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. However, the last few years we have seen a rise in more conservative newspapers along with conservative reporters who also were historically more liberal than conservative. However all newspapers are corporate leaning, and therefore at best most newspapers are moderate to right-leaning.

The "San Diego Union-Tribune"always had a strong conservative editorial page, but the last few years the "Tribune" had soften, and even it's highly sensationalized news stories on Mexico's drug cartel violence seemed to have softened.

I was disheartened to learn that the "San Diego Tribune" was brought by Doug Manchester, who owns Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. I also learned that Doug Manchester is an ultra conservative homophobe!

Doug Manchester put $125,000 of his own money for 2008 Prop 8 initiative to ban gay marriage in California. It was Manchester's seed money that put Prop 8 on the ballot, and without Manchester's early money. It's unlikely Prop 8 would have been on the ballot.

No doubt the "San Diego Tribune" will soon see a editorial shift to the ultra right.

I'm so upset I'm thinking for cancelling my San Diego Union-Tribune subscription! :mad:

[Edited on 11-18-2011 by JoeJustJoe]

JoeJustJoe - 11-18-2011 at 02:52 PM

Prop 8 Supporter Doug Manchester Buys San Diego Union Tribune

Prop 8 supporter Doug Manchester, whose Manchester Grand Hyatt has been high at the top of boycott lists for years now, has purchased the city's San Diego Union Tribune for more than $110 million, Voice of San Diego reports:
---
Manchester has been a polarizing figure, one known for his brash negotiations and controversial politics. He sponsored a 1994 effort that sought to move the city's international airport off the waterfront and to the Marine base at Miramar. The $125,000 he donated to the 2008 initiative to ban gay marriage in California attracted a high-profile boycott of his local hotels. His stand on marriage drew attention to his own divorce a year later.

"He has a well-earned reputation for being a small-minded, resentful, mean-spirited man," said Fred Sainz, the former spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders. "And those are not the character traits you want in the publisher of your newspaper. It's going to be hard to believe the editorial positions of the newspaper were arrived at in a thoughtful and unbiased manner."

Sainz said he thought the community needed to stage an intervention. "It's putting way too much power in the hands of one person with a multitude of agendas," he said.

As for the future of the paper?

John Lynch, the former local radio executive who will become the newspaper's new president and CEO, offered a preview Thursday night of that future...The paper's once-influential conservative editorial page softened. Lynch said he sees an opportunity there. He wants people to talk about the editorial page. He and Manchester, both politically conservative, want to forge a stronger, better San Diego."

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2011/11/prop-8-supporter-doug-manch...

DENNIS - 11-18-2011 at 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JoeJustJoe
Doug Manchester is an ultra conservative homophobe!

Ohhh...don't let that bother you, Joe. He probably doesn't even know your name.

BajaBlanca - 11-18-2011 at 03:11 PM

I just love the smell of a fresh newspaper !

I just love leafing thru the pages.

Internet reading simply does not cut it for me.

DENNIS - 11-18-2011 at 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaBlanca
Internet reading simply does not cut it for me.

I agree, but it's better than nothing.

JoeJustJoe - 11-19-2011 at 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
I will miss the UT. I depend on the Sunday paper to line my birdcages for the week.

Papers are dinosaurs and eventually the print editions are going to go by the wayside. I guess the physical papers are still good when you go to the bathroom and want something to read. Some papers are so bad their only use would be to use as toilet paper.

Papers like the SDUT are losing subscribers, and will do almost anything to keep you as a paying subscriber in order to sell their advertisement space to their well paying clients.

So what I do, and others do when they get the monthly, or bi-monthly bill. Is not to pay the bill right away and wait for the telephone call, or you can call the paper yourself, and tell them you want to cancel the subscription.

They will of course ask you why you want to cancel, and if price is an issue, and even if it's not an issue. They will offer to take at least one-third off the subscription price. But still tell them no, and almost always they will come back and offer to take a full one half amount off the subscription price, and sometimes even more depending what paper your talking about.

I haven't payed full price for the physical papers in years, and I would cancel them if I didn't get a price break, because almost all my reading is done Online.

baja1943 - 11-19-2011 at 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JoeJustJoe

I'm so upset I'm thinking for cancelling my San Diego Union-Tribune subscription! :mad:

[Edited on 11-18-2011 by JoeJustJoe]

You no longer support your La Jolla paperboy?