Casualty count, other fronts

A former colleague sends a little note with recent bloodshed in journalism business. In part:

So Trib is about to go bankrupt:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/1208/Tribune_preparing_for_bankruptcy.html
While NYT mortgages the house to pay its bills:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/1208/NYT_borrowing_225_million_against_HQ_.html
WaPo raises its newstand price to 75 cents (that's just brilliant: demand is lower so you increase your price)
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/1208/WaPo_raising_newsstand_price_to_75_cents.html

Plus he had a sad story about a journalist worried about his future. For another sad story on eminent death of an old and respected paper, the Rocky Mountain News, as well as some more Chitrib info, click here for the Newspaper Death Watch site. I worked as a printer at the Chitrib 1969–72 and the Monkey Rotten News from fall 1967–spring 1968. Both were, in their own ways, good papers and good competition for the other rags in their cities. Competition made newspapers better. The News is 149 years old. What a shame to see the end of something that old. When I went to Chicago, there was head-to-head competition both mornings and evenings. Chicago was a great newspaper town and produced a lot of good journalists. I got to read three or four different papers every day. I'm glad I saw those places in those times. A cool thing about South America was the newspaper kiosks on every corner and people reading papers everywhere.