Monday, March 16, 2009

Wither, the Herald? by gimleteye

Dan Ricker's 'Watchdog Report' this week has an interesting and grammatically unintelligible note: "... an upcoming luncheon at the Downtown Bay Forum to discuss what the community would do if The Herald closed..."
"... has caused a stir with the paper’s executive editor Anders Gyllenhaal playing phone tag with the forum’s founder Annette Eisenberg as of Friday afternoon. Eisenberg, a faithful reader of The Herald told the Watchdog Report the topic was chosen not because that is what she and others wanted. The paper closing, but given the state of the industry. It should be discussed, she and her board thought and why the event is going forward.' I think I get the point.

It is hard to imagine under what circumstances the Herald will not be forced to shut down as a print edition newspaper, delivered to subcribers' doors. The notion that billionaire investors, like the Fanjuls, would step in as angels would cause even more turmoil. That said, it would be interesting to know exactly why its executives would object to the Herald's situation being put under a community microscope. So we invite Anders Gyllenhaal, past or present MIami Herald employees including Alberto Ibarguen, president of the Knight Foundation and former Herald publisher, to use our blog, Eyeonmiami, to explain.

2 comments:

Steven in Miami said...

Like the music industry, GM and so many others this isn't about the Herald finding an underwriter, this is about the Herald finding a business model that is sustainable and, more than that, relevant. Finding someone (like the US taxpayers did for GM) to simply underwrite continued failed editorial policies and business models is spending good money after bad.

Steven in Miami said...

Here is the story of a newspaper that is succeeding:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7942017.stm