Thursday, August 23, 2007

N-L CLOSES BRANSON BUREAU

Always-reliable sources say the News-Leader has shuttered its Branson bureau and laid off writer Kathy Buckstaff. The move comes as Branson opens its convention center and goes into direct competition with Springfield for that yummy rich market.

The Branson bureau had been a News-Leader fixture for almost two decades. Then again, the paper used to have a full-time correspondent in Jefferson City, too. Times change, and we change with them. Or at least we're supposed to.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sure, times change. But the need for a newspaper to cover the Ozarks region hasn't changed. Yet the News-Leader continues to devour itself in the name of short-term cost-savings. The long-term outcome will be the demise of this newspaper, for soon it will have nothing to compel an audience to buy it. Sad times, these.

The Lorax said...

And Gannett wanted to BUY KSPR because it could tie it in with the paper.

HARDY HAR HAR.

Anonymous said...

Some might say the Springfield bureau has technically closed. Is there any real news coming out of that building?

Anonymous said...

I doubt Gannett wanted to buy KSPR.

Anonymous said...

what's happening at the NL now is a sad reminder that in the end, money trumps everything -- journalism, public service, community involvement and all the rest.

back when the money was rolling in faster, newspapers could afford to wrap themselves in the first amendment, thrust their chests out and declare that they were the proud watchdogs of the government, tireless defenders of the downtrodden, protectors of the public's right to know. some -- journalists, mostly -- even believed that. what really mattered, even then, was the bottom line, but profits made public relations and noble sentiments easier.

now the profits are dropping like a rock across the industry, and for a company like gannett -- which has always produced the cheapest product it could get by with, the worst rag that an acceptable number of readers and advertisers would still buy -- the only answer is to cut costs even more. the quality and quantity have been eroding for years; recent developments have only accelerated that downward slide.

and yes, a community needs a good newspaper. but wall street analysts and bean counters who never heard of your community and don't give a flying ratf#ck about it, or you, or your newspaper, decide what the company that publishes the newspaper is worth. and money, again, trumps everything.

Anonymous said...

Wow another story about the failure of the News-Leader. How many of these can there be before the whole thing
shuts down. Branson? Jeff City? Why would reader care about far off places like that?

Anonymous said...

How about adding a question mark to the last post after shuts down, and an "s" to reader.

Thanks

Anon 8:53

They need copy editors too.

Anonymous said...

"Times change, and we change with them."
Not always for the better; and not always for the right reasons.

More of the tunnel-visioned "Springfield is the center of the universe" thinking that led to their new and improved format. Coincidently that was about the time when I did not renew my subscription.