By Greg Paeth
The Cincinnati Post
Published 12/31/2007
Excerpt:
For the last 30 years, The Post's voice has been heard
primarily because of the Newspaper Preservation Act, federal
legislation that was designed to allow failing newspapers to continue
publishing on the theory that a community benefited when there was more
than one major source for news and information.
Bob
Steele, who teaches values and ethics to journalists at The Poynter
Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said the Enquirer's ownership of
print and online media in Cincinnati "in some ways puts a stranglehold"
on the market. "But these are exceptionally difficult times for owners
of newspaper companies and it may take exceptional strategies" to
continue publishing, he said.
In the past, when one
newspaper closed down, the surviving paper often hired some of the best
people from its competitor, broadening and improving its coverage,
Steele said. Because of the economics of the publishing industry,
though, "that's probably not going to be the case in 2007 — Gannett's
probably not hiring." (The Enquirer has offered several Post employees
freelance work and offered at least one Post staffer a full-time job,
Post employees say.)
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