Sun-Times Media Group Folding 12 Suburban Papers In Cost-Cutting Move

Crain's Chicago Business:

Sun-Times Media Group Inc. plans to fold 12 of its suburban papers as it seeks to trim expenses amid plunging advertising revenue. The company, which operates the Chicago Sun-Times and dozens of suburban papers, also wants to lay off as many as 15 unionized workers in its suburban newsrooms, a union official said. Those cuts are subject to negotiation with the Newspaper Guild.
[...]
The 12 weekly Pioneer Press publications slated for closure Jan. 15, most of which serve the northwest suburbs, are: Algonquin Countryside, Arlington Heights Post, Cary-Grove Countryside, Des Plaines Times, Elk Grove Times, Hoffman Estates Review, Mount Prospect Times, Niles Herald Spectator, Palatine Countryside, Proviso Herald, Rolling Meadows Review and Wheeling Countryside.

Read the whole story: Crain's Chicago Business

Comments

[BushBites]

Hate to see those small community papers being shut down.

In many areas, that's the only way people find out what's happening at the school board, park district board or town council.

Good opportunity for bloggers with Journalism backgrounds, tho, as long as they design them to be printable for older people who dislike reading on-screen.

[Bush-Rolled]

The newspaper business has steadily declined ever since the wall between the editorial and the advertising departments was torn down. Prior to that newspapers made a modest amount of money if they were run well, and they employed a fair number of people.
Once greed took over and ever-increasing profits were being dictated from the top (an impossible goal) papers started cutting staff and removing the content that made their paper worth reading.
Couple that with people working longer hours just to keep up and less time to read, declining educational standards, competing media such as TV and later the internets and you have a perfect storm of disaster for newspapers.
Unless they were willing to adapt, which they did not do very well.