Bleeding ink

These are not the best of times for those of us who work at newspapers.

Nobody has to tell us that. Our parent company recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It’s not a lot of fun. It’s a little bit like walking on eggshells, not really sure if your next step is going to be your last.

Our company emerged from Chapter 11 and we are now embarking on something of a new course in diversifying into a multi-media company. We are pushing more and more content online, including the use of a lot of video. A couple of our sister papers will be taking part in what we are calling the Ben Franklin Project. They will create an issue of their publications using only tools available online.

But the truth is our hearts remains in newspapers.

So our hearts are heavy today for our colleagues who work at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. The newspapers are on the auction block, with current boss Brian Tierney locked in a bidding war with the creditors he borrowed much of the money from to buy the papers in the first place.

Some reports indicate that if the creditors win control of the company, all 4,500 employees will be fired and then have to reapply for their jobs. Only about half would be hired back.

In this business we all bleed ink.

Some of us more than others.

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