Buffalo News Continues Buyout Offers

It's sad that newspapers across the country are in decline. The Buffalo News is more like an ad supplement and the writing is rife with grammatical errors. (I'm glad for BRO because I think that the Buffalo News misses so many important issues.)

Here in LA, the LA Times has had major cuts and the quality of its articles is in noticeable decline. I find that the NY Times is the only real newspaper left in that it has many pages of actual articles. Home delivery of any paper will soon be an antiquated notion because it's much easier to access news on computers and smartphones.

Not too long ago, it was seen as lamentable that cities with two newspapers were reduced to cities with one newspaper. Will some cities eventually have no local newspapers at all?

Bluedevil: this must be a very happy day for you. Hopefully more layoffs will occur at the News and your happiness will continue to increase.

You come across with such zeal in the demise of an industry and the people who toil in it. Your integrity bottoms out as a result. I guess you are too enlightened and on another plane, maybe I can attain the plane, but I hope if I do, it crashes fast and ends badly.

Can I call you zippie by the way?

Now for your overreaction...

carl - no joy in layoffs in any industry. the post is merely a statement of facts and a comment as to how this likely plays out in the future. the writing is on the wall for print media as competition has eroded most of their value. it's creative destruction, though, and it's part of any somewhat-capitalistic society.

The Chicago tribune has shrunk drastically. hey have also shortened the stories that are left and filled the pages with giant pictures. It now also has the very annoying half page add across its front. The Sunday paper is no different than the weekday papers except that it is filled with worthless ad supplements. The Sunday MAgazine is about 6 pages. I think some weekday issues will disappear soon.

well has anyone read the Buffalo News lately and the grade level of the writing in its articles, the content of its articles?

Seriously newspapers in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica/Rome are all sadly little more than advertising, AP stories and faxed in news bulletins....almost no investigative or insight is added.

I ended my subscription to the News about fifteen years ago when I decided that an editorial staff that complained about the decisions of our elected leaders but then would endorse them at election time for the same or higher office was a waste of my money. I can say that the editorial staff still does not have a set of principals to judge elected officials. They would be better off leaving the page blank on endorsement day rather than leading the electorate down the wrong road

Sorry for the misspelling on "principles"

The generation gap between readers is staggering. Im in my late 20's and get my news from a computer screen during the week. On Sundays I get the Buffalo News and The NY Times. My father has worked in the newspaper industry in WNY for 30 years so it's in my blood. I myself am also in the industry, I worked for the Buffalo News and left because the editor in my department was a fool. He has since been promoted. In my opinion the Buffalo News is a rag. They have failed to find a happy medium between web and print. As much as the NY Times is losing money their system works (Not all content is free).

Wave goodbye. Newspapers are either going to the web or they will just fold. The amazing thing about an internet platform is that advertizers can sell directly to readers on the spot with click-throughs yet none of them seem to understand the power and the potential of this. All over, newspaper websites aren't generating the kind of revenue that could support the staffs needed to produce original content and it's the advertizers that are failing to recognize the possibilities, not the newspapers. Only when they discontinue the wet ink and the heavy production and distribution payrolls that go with it will the real economics become much clearer.

living between two cities, I try and stay on top of the news in both, mostly by the net. I look at the Buffalo News on the net daily, has anyone seen it lately? Totaly usless. I get more info from BRO thankyou very much.

Our local paper is unique to the industry in some respects. The last figures I saw, a couple of years ago, were that the News was ranked the #1 most profitable newspaper in the country. The News was also ranked #1 in penetration. Readership was approximately 86% of the population. Warren Buffet said in his annual report he will own the News for as long as it continues to earn a profit. The News has more time. Plus, the News is paid for. The Tribune got caught highly leveraged.

I predict that newspapers will survive and remain relevant. I believe in newspapers. I believe that newspapers can actually become bigger and stronger than ever before. But first, newspapers will undergo a radical shift in culture by becoming enterprising. The only disconnect between newspapers and the new technology is that the resources of the new technology are only available to those businesses possessing the enterprise to seize them. They don't.

All businesses and industries have to either continuously or periodically redefine and reinvent themselves or they become irrelevant in the marketplace. Newspapers have been comfortable for such a long time that their entrepreneurial personnel have long since retired. That part of their business no longer exists. Their extended period of good fortune has ironically left them in a position of weakness. Now they are defensive institutions operating out of fear. They can survive if they can make themselves aggressive and fearless again like most other viable businesses. That is what entrepreneurs bring to the table. They need to get some. That will involve a difficult cultural adjustment. The sooner they do this, the more resources they have to work with. They still have huge and important proprietary resources to work with but they are losing more and more.

I can't help believing that there has never been more opportunity for newspapers than exists today. I can't imagine a more exciting business to be in right now. Newspapers have the market leadership opportunity to lead the direction that technology will take our advertising, journalism, entertainment, and even more. The irony is that they don’t have to just follow and sink; they have the capacity to invent and lead. I just wish that they could recognize this for themselves.

Unions are shooting themselves in the foot once again...theyll be like Trico, Buffalo China, Oneida, GM...kiss them goodbye...Unions are antiques