DAILY FREEMAN OWNER FILES BANKRUPTCY
Last Week the Daily Freeman and their brilliant (ok, we’re kidding) lead reporter Patricia Doxsey all but gleefully wrote how the Catskill Daily Mail went from a 6 day a week paper down to a 5 day a week paper.
The Freeman ran the story as soon as the news broke on their internet site and then again the next day in print editions.
So of course when the Freeman’s parent company – the Journal Register Company filed for bankruptcy, the Freeman ran it on line immediately and above the fold in the next day’s edition. NOT!!!
However, the news is true, the Freeman’s owner filed for bankruptcy – and you can read the story in . . . .the Poughkeepsie Journal.
click HERE to read the Poughkeepsie Journal story
We at Ulster Politics encourage all readers to CALL THE FREEMAN AND CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION NOW. Kick the rag when its down because the Freeman has never hesitated to kick others when they are down.
The reality is that the “news” the Freeman offers is often a next day reprint of www.MidHudsonNews.com and more often than not Associated Press news clippings. Look, we didn’t always like Hugh Reynolds, but at least the guy was a reporter.
Imagine how embarrassed Ira Fusfeld (hereinafter named “Fussy”) must have been having to part ways with their star political reporter knowing full well that there were no “major leaguers” left in terms of reporters.
Fussy Fusfeld (a name a lot like “Sully Sulenberger” so we aren’t making fun or Ira’s name, he just caught a bad break) is happy to spew his criticism, sit on boards around here (wasn’t he involved with the Solar Consortium, maybe he can get one of their thousands of promised jobs – NOT), enjoy being sucked up to, but the hard cold facts are now in the Bankruptcy Court papers – the Freeman’s owner has filed bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy by no means guarantees closure, and for the workers at the Freeman – the pressmen, the administrative staff, the grunts we hope not. But to the Journal Register owners we say this: a good paper starts with its readers trusting it. When Hugh Reynolds left the Freeman, and Fussy still stayed, it was clear to us that the public could no longer trust that rag.
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19 comments:
Excellent post, UCP. Fusfeld and the idiots in charge of the Freeman deserve what they get. Hopefully, the rank and file workers will be ok. Everyone knows the Freeman is a joke, and unbelievably biased. Look at the free pass they give Hein constantly.
I'm not entirely sure the Freeman is biased, but rather they love to be sensationalists.
Never ones not to attempt to fuel some sort of fire.
Face it..they have always written stories to stir things up. From both sides of the aisle. Whichever side they think will ignite the most controversy is how they portray their articles.
It's a rag and has been for quite some time.
They should have left the editorializing to the proper sections and stuck to reporting the facts...and maybe getting some of those correct once in awhile.
I won't miss this at all.
(Except maybe for all the comotion they stir up on the blogs).
The Freeman is a viable local paper. The corporation was leveraged to the hilt which is what the problem was. The Freeman can and will make it on it's own.
Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish, my Father always said, in cases like this, & so true!
Their editorial policy was amateurish @ best & dangerous, at worst, they never had the finger on any pulse, not Kingston, not Ulster County.
They sent me nasty e-mails when i sent in letters to the editor they didnt agree with & that is totally unprofessional.
Don't let the door hit you in the ass, on yr way out, Ira & fiends,
Hey, maybe Hein will buy the Freeman with county funds and appoint another deputy executive at 100k/yr. in charge of the paper.
I found the same exact story that Poughkeepsie Journal has on the Freeman's website. I also saw a story in the Freeman's regular paper. This blog is obviously written by someone who doesn't have a clue. From what I know about these things, 3:52 has is exactly right.
We hope that Ira Fusfeld is fired. He is arrogant and dismissive of dissent.
Firing Hugh Reynolds was pathetic when a guy like Ira and his joke of an editorial director stays on the payroll.
Get rid of these hacks, bring back Reynolds, hell, hire Jeremy Blaber, find another Hallie (RIP) Arnold and the Freeman would be stronger than ever.
By the way, if Bill Kemble writes another story about some stupid town official not responding fast enough to a Freedom of Information request or open meeting issue I'm gonna barf.
So your advocating for 100 plus people to lose their jobs?
The truth is the truth. Get over it.
The way that the Daily Freeman has been run locally is emblematic of the way the Journal Register ran all of its holdings. That they kept Ira Fusfeld on staff after they took over is statement that they liked the way he did business. That does not speak highly of Fusfeld, a rank amateur who has been over his head for years, nor of JRC, a company driven by the raw ego of one man (now deceased) and the gluttony of many.
It is a shame that the paper was not already spun off to an entity concerned with being a newspaper. There is money to be made there. All that blather on their editorial pages and in Fusfeld's blog about the death of the newspaper industry rings more of a cover for their own failings than an observation of an economic phenomenon.
The editorial writers of the paper, like those who edit copy are in serious need of an education, of therapy, of a dose of professionalism that has been lacking for over a decade on Hurley Avenue. With apologies to those truly afflicted, one of the editors comes across like he has Turret Syndrome (believe it or not, he is even more obnoxious in person!).
Until the economy soured (the failure of the local economy is in no small part a function of the poor coverage of their community by the Daily Freeman), these low achievers got away with it. When it came time to actually do the hard work, they (the management) were not up to the task.
But let us get to the nub of things. The biggest problem at the Freeman is not bias. It is, instead, the intellectual laziness with which they carry out their daily tasks. Have they no pride whatsoever? A job is a just job, apparently. Clean up in aisle six.
Their lazy coverage of local government and politics is second only to the Freeman's parroting of the lazy criticism of state government and politics by a decimated and second rate Capitol press corp.
It doesn't have to be this way. The Freeman could modernize the layout. They could recruit young journalists the way Geyer and Borsollino did in the 70's and early 80's. They could become an authentic and authoritative voice for the community, instead of doing a fair imitation of the cranky old coot at the end of the bar or the little old lady chasing kids and their baseballs off her lawn. They could be creative in their adoption of technology, recognizing that the net is here a to stay and can be a new means of interesting communication, solidly supporting the print version in advertising and editorial and news content.
They could, but they won't. They won't as long, for example, as the current management is there and committed to ideas like blogs by news organizations are there to feed the egos of that same management.
Forget bias. Forget blaming reporters (it's really not their fault. Editors assign stories, set themes, and review copy before it is published). Forget wishing bad luck to the couple of hundred people who count on the Freeman for their livelihood. Forget even the past transgressions of the lame, virtually useless and here and there psychotic administration of the paper.
Remember laziness. That is what it is all about. Lazy, bored and boring people phoning it in and running the local branch of the Journal Register into the ground, just like the rest of the company.
To close on an optimistic note, check the Freeman circulation figures. The bottom is near. Join me in hoping that some savvy, innovative and brave investor comes along and snatches up the Freeman at a bargain price, with enough capital left over to rebuild the institution to a respectable stature.
-30-
"Hopefully, the rank and file workers will be ok."
How? Your neighbors are about to lose their jobs. Where will they work?
OMG--WHAT will now be the "newspaper of record"--and how long will it take for elected officials in the city to control that also??
9:54 sounds like Kevin Cahill.
You gotta hand it to him, he is the only one around here who has publicly had the guts to tell the Freeman to shove it. The other politicians kiss the Freemans butt and hope they continue to pick on Cahill and leave them alone.
It is too bad the demise of the Freeman as we know it, is imminent. I hope 9:54 is right and someone comes in and cleans house of the deadwood and gets the paper back on it's feet.
One less paper does this means Hein's press person gets a cut in pay
9:54 is too intelligent to be Kevin Cahill.
Besides which, I doubt Kevin Cahill knows what "-30-" means.
(hint:to writers, it is the opposite of "the beginning").
9:54. If that's Cahill who wrote what you said he wrote, he didn't show any guts by not using his name.
" Failes" Bankruptcy ???
C'mon,, even blogs should spell better than this,,
are you trying to emulate the Freeman ???
don't insult yr readers, please,
be more professional. some of us can read, spell & write,,
It is no secret how Cahill feels, he has responded to Ira's Blog before. The freeman also takes every opportunity to say that he doesn't speak to their reporters. I agree it is not him, he would have signed it.
Ira is crying on his blog about the people picking on him and his shitty little paper. He called them "dolts". I think that is a prerequisite to work at the freeman, being a dolt that is.
If the reporters even tried to be fair, and maybe work a little, people who are complaining would have nothing to complain about. Working hard does not cost money. You can't buy work ethic with advertising.
1:39 PM. Вверх уважением!
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