Tuesday, August 23, 2011

BANGers consolidate newspapers; Bye Bye Oakland Trib, (and others); Tuesday PM post

What an appropriate name, B.A.N.G.

It stands for "Bay Area News Group." The corporate assholes who run this horrible company consolidated a few hundred jobs and eliminated some newspaper holdings, including the Oakland Tribune.

I know the newspaper business is hurting and continues to struggle. I feel for many of the dedicated writers, reporters, and editors, not just at BANG, but other publications too. (Thanks Internet).

While I understand most people are fleeing the printed word and have gone strictly digital, I still read my daily NY Times, Sunday too. Of course, I've adapted to on-line sites but I still can't imagine a Sunday feel of the Times and my morning cup of Peets.

BANG? Screw you. You have systematically ruined the lives of thousands of hard-working people dedicated to their craft. I can say without question, I will never read your marginalized rags. Ever.

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11 comments:

  1. Hmmm.
    The reason they're cutting people like every other newspaper group in the nation is that thousands of people are not reading their "rags", and more and more are "not" reading them every day. So if YOU aren't reading them, you're the reason people are losing their jobs...

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  2. How the hell can they lose the name "Oakland Tribune?" This is complete bs!

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  3. No surprise. Dean Singleton and his ilk are first class jerks and robber barons who should be run out of the business. Don'y buy the CC Times or SJ Medrc because if you do, you'll be supporting this worthless scumbag who ought to be run out of town on a rail!

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  4. East Bay Tribune... WTF ?! Really... I guess that's it. I didt like the Media News take on the Trib but at least they kept the masthead. We need another Maynard !!

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  5. If you dont buy the papers even more employees will lose their jobs! I have been reading the CCTimes ever since I was a kid and still do. I even worked at the Concord Transcript and the CCTimes and still know people working there. This is a sad day no thanks to that moron Singleton.

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  6. I'm sure the same rant was heard when the horse and buggy industry shuttered a hundred years ago.

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  7. The local paper here in Fremont (The Argus) has gone down the tubes the last 10 years. BANG buying them a few years ago was the nail in the coffin. The old days of local news is a thing of the past and a lot of old timers here in town won't put up with this sh*t. Thank Goc there's the Tri City Voice newspaper that still has a hometown feel to it being published here.
    On a side note maybe BANG will finally get rid of Monte Poole, that dude has turned into a racist with his articles.

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  8. I agree with you Rich, in that there is nothing like actually holding a newspaper in your hand and reading it. I read the Las Vegas Review Journal online everyday, but whenever my friend goes to his house in Vegas, I have him bring me back the Sunday paper, and believe me, there is a WORLD of difference in reading a paper online and actually reading the printed version. After reading the Sunday 'paper' online, and then actually reading the printed version, it is like reading two different papers. The local Bay area papers have been worthless now for years, since they reduced their sizes and content. WHile they have lost revenue due to Craigslist mainly, they have lost customers due to their own fault of not providing proper content.
    --Bob Smith on FB

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  9. My first day of work at The Oakland Tribune was the day they were awarded the Pulitzer for their Loma Prieta photos. Walking down the hallway in the Tower, seeing the historic photos that told the story of the East Bay for a century was amazing, sorting clips in the library, reading the bylines of some of the greats, working alongside solid pros who would treat you with respect if you were brand new...The day Al Neuarth arrived with a bailout...long enough to workout the sale to Singleton. Worked in the Tower the day after the Trib operations were moved to the Waterfront. Nothing more eerie than an empty and quiet newsroom.
    Sadly, after joining up with the Singleton operation, I realized an empty and quiet newsroom is even more eerie when the paper is in operation.
    Those were a few good years. Bob Valli, Dave Newhouse, Monte Poole, Harry Harris, Jackie Cutler, Kelly Gust, Charles Jackson, Jim Bainbridge, John Raes, Chauncey Bailey, Benny Evangelista, Bob Lopez, Matt Lee, Ron Reisterer, Mike Macor, Martin Snapp, too many others to name them all.
    Working there was like playing a part in one of those Preston Sturges movies - except with more profanity.

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  10. Dave Newhouse helped me with a school homework assignment twenty-five years ago, totally unsolicited. What a great guy. And I got an 'A.'
    I wrote to Ted Robinson, too, when he worked at KCBS. But Ted turned me down.
    I still enjoy Dave. Love the offbeat articles, like the one this week about local burger joints.

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  11. A real damn shame. I no longer have anything else to say, except.......
    I truly hope and pray that dean singleton (and his Many followers)' including the two faced employees who "suck up" to their managers ONLY to hold onto their jobs. Funny thing is.......they are the ones who do the worst bad mouthing, TO ALL OF US!!!!!!

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