IH HIS COLUMN TODAY The Chronicle's Phil Matier said goodbye --"It's time to move on."
After 35years, seems both logical and realistic.
ONLY Matier's move was accelerated by the Chron's increasingly dire financial situation. It has speeded up some of the paper's biggest loss of staff, including star columnists, including Willie Brown, just last week and now Matier.
THINGS are so dire that employee expenses have been cut fifty percent and there's several rumors that buyout offers are being offered (more like ultimatums) to the sports writers)
Senior staffers are either leaving or being told to go for far cheaper (and less interesting) writers and reporters.
As always, I'm making calls and looking for more info for you guys.
Just look at the size of the Chronicle: Smaller and smaller each month. Truly a sad state of affairs and, yes, another round of buyouts seems inevitable. This reminds me of what is happening at Gannett and USA Today -- a slow, agonizing decline.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Print journalism is suffering a painful demise. At one time, As an East Bay resident, I subscribed to the Contra Costa Times under Lesher and the Chronicle twenty years ago. The Sunday Chronicle now is thinner than a Belgian waffle. I always looked forward to reading local reading columnists and the Sporting Green.
DeleteWhere I live now, the paper is a six day delivery with no Saturday edition.
The internet, and social media are doing to newspapers what computers did to the typewriter.
I wonder about this, as, obviously those with buyouts would be somewhat taken care of. I wonder what kind of retirement/buyout/golden parachute that someone like Matier has, who has been there for so long, and was really, one of the people who was at the heart of the paper. I know you are on this one, Rich!
ReplyDeletewhy would this surprise anyone?..Newspapers everywhere are dying..with a few exceptions.
ReplyDeleteJust imagine how successful they would have been and how many papers they would have sold if they had actually reported on Democratic corruption in both the city and state.
ReplyDeleteRich has reported here about many of the cover-ups. See: Adachi for one. Good try at sarcasm...don't quit your day job (if you even have one).
DeleteI'd bet Louis gets his news from TMZ and Huffpo. Sad.
Delete"Senior staffers are either leaving or being told to go for far cheaper (and less interesting) writers and reporters."
ReplyDeleteSo the equivalent in radio would be the Pat Thurstons, Chip Franklins, and Nikki Medoros of the world?
Good riddance to Willie Brown! He's overstayed his welcome. He can take his crooked Texas trash back to the Lone Star State.
ReplyDeleteHe was crooked but he wrote a great column. At least he'll have a name on a school to remember him by.
DeleteThey made a deal with the Gentrified Devil.
ReplyDeleteI like to read my Chronicle while waiting in line at Blockbuster.
ReplyDeleteThis may explain why RL hasn't blasted the EIC's recent ruinous regime.
ReplyDeleteDid Matier's pard, Ross, retire as part of the package?
ReplyDeleteThis long decline of the media has been in the works for years! The scary part is we do not know what the end looks like. One thing we can count on is there will never be a Chonicle like you had in the 60s 70s & 1980s
ReplyDeleteLooks like he'll be reporting more than in the past on ABC7.
ReplyDeletehttps://abc7news.com/society/phil-matier-retires-chronicle-column-reveals-whats-next-/10134366/
Do people 40 and younger even read articles longer than a Tweet?
ReplyDeleteI say 94% do not.
do the 40 and younger even know who he is?
DeleteDid the dirt on the Adachi investigation come out, or is it about to be buried with the Chronicle?
ReplyDeleteTo this day nothing additional has evolved from the case. As long as Breed and Brown run the show in SF it will stay buried. However, Rich does know alot about certain circumstances, if he did spill it....it would only be on his death bed.
DeleteTo raise money, they should offer an online subscription!
ReplyDelete