Saturday, September 27, 2008

FLS not exempt from economy

You've all heard the reports of major cut backs at large companies, particularly major newspapers like the Washington Post. Our very own Free Lance-Star isn't exempt from these pressures either. Unconfirmed reports peg them at having reduced their workforce by five percent. I know some of my fellow bloggers are probably ready to blast them, but I tend to try to consider the FLS a valuable resource in the area. After all, they have funding to PAY people to go do things that us bloggers can't or won't go report on. Sure, they occasionally have a story that we don't agree with, but then I've written articles that have sparked disagreement in the online community.

Lets give credit to the owners of the Free Lance-Star for maintaining the local ownership, rather than selling out to a regional or national consortium. Keeping ownership local, should maintain their focus on local events/products/services/news. All successful businesses have to take a step back at times and evaluate if they have the right mix of skills and employees. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come, and simply an effect of this temporary downturn in the economy.

1 comment:

Bryan said...

During the Obama rally, during one of the rain downpours, I had a conversation with a Richmond Times Dispatch reporter. They have been in continuous change, and are curious to see what comes next for the newspaper world. His feeling is that newspapers of the future won't be what we've come to expect in the past. Part of the issue is convincing advertisers that online advertising is similar to what print advertising used to be. We'll see.

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