News-Record.com

I love it, new media is driving out the old!

The newspaper business and the mainstream media in general, has been been a refuge for a bunch of putrid dogmatic marxoids who use their monopoly to propagandize their captive audience...until the internet came along.

From Vermont to California, Montana to Texas, a person could travel the length and breadth of this country and get the same news everywhere in between. How the hell does that happen?

No matter, now most intelligent people are getting their news from different sources on the internet, and their views and values are changing. That is why Ron Paul is such a big phonomea. The more people know, the more they realize just how full of crap you people are.

So I'm glad to hear it. I look forward to the day when Jerry Rowe, Loraine Aherne and the whole merry band of marxoid hippie creeps at the Greensboro Daily Worker are working a drive through at McDonalds.

Have fun with that.

Ken
www.LaserGuidedLoogie.com

Lol!

Looks like I misspelled phenomena, change that for me will you, and no, I don't want fries with that.

:)

Ken
www.LaserGuidedLoogie.com

You know, the Rhino always jokes about the N&R being "the 11-county area N&R" but in reality it is far from it. It is GSO, HP, Guilford Co. and that's pretty much it.

You all have massively cut back on your outlying bureaus, so we really don't get that regional coverage. Coincidentally, the W-S Journal doesn't cover that much east of the Forsyth Co. line either...this is much a disgustingly segmented media market, it's nuts.

If the N&R is sold (the McClatchy's???), I would like to see that regional coverage built back up, vis-a-vis the News & Observer of Raleigh, which is a good regional paper, even in Durham and Chapel Hill. I would like to see a real working relationship with a local news station, I guess CBS-2 is all that's left (FOX-8 has a partnership with the Journal and NBC-12 has a small partnership with the Enterprise), or News 14 Carolina (which I watch over all the others for my local news).

Mark's doing a good job out of Raleigh, I would like to see more statewide coverage. And re-beef back up the business coverage.

Its about time the N&R went to the way side. It has always been a waste of paper. Now with the internet who needs it. The problem is, who would want to buy it? It would be like buy a horse harness factory in the age of the auto. To much politics in this paper. If McD is full Burger King and TacoBell are hiring.
Who will the so called leaders of GSO have to protect them now?
Paul

That's right, rejoice with glee because you think that hundreds of N&R employees' futures are now up in the air. Whatever political affiliation you may have, I want to be a part of that! (Not.)

However, I am being reassured that as one of the last privately owned media companies, this type of change was inevitable and will probably turn out OK. If Landmark IS sold, it doesn't mean the paper is going away. We just may have a new owner.

BTW, not all of us are "marxoid hippie creeps", whatever that may be. We might just be your friend, relative or neighbor. It's not just the columnists you mention who work at the N&R. Come take a tour sometime, maybe you can better appreciate what goes into the miracle of putting a newspaper out on the street or in your driveway every morning.

The fact that you even read the paper's website and saw this article proves that the N&R is still relevant and part of your life. The fact that you even took the time to "hate on us" further proves that fact.

Best wishes to you and any others who may have your same sweet sentiments. If ever job security becomes an issue for you or your loved ones, I invite you to read our Sunday TriadCareers employment classifieds or visit www.triadcareers.com. That's one of the many services the newspaper provides - helping employees and employers find each other, along with sponsoring many local events (above and beyond the core thing we do - report & publish the news).

This paper is such an important part of the community and we plan to grow and change with the community. See you in the future!

In order to generate rev the new parent company will scale down staff. This will probably be a good thing. Sports for instance ...do you really need 2 "writers" to tear down the GGO. The ACC and panthers get national coverage and better local coverage from the Ral/Char papers. Sorry but a sardonic tone does not replace good writing. People use the net to get up to date news. The paper has to have a hook to get readers. The N&R fails to do this. It will continue forward sale or not, but it will never grow only survive.

I weighed the Sunday paper. Two and one half pounds of waste paper. Times 200,000 papers.
Make Landmark pay for the disposal.

Fire the entire editorial staff.

I am all for the sale. I live in a area where the NR had the home delivery business for years. They got so liberal that a Virginia paper took all of their customers. We begged the NR to throw us righties a bone, they refused and we gave them the boot. All the NR need to do in my opinion is to hire a red neck that could give a damn less about what the folks in Raleigh think about them. Instead we have a group that marches to Raleigh beat. Worried about your job, then do it. Who needs a paper, me I can not drag my Internet to the bath room are deck, I want something I can hold in my hand and cuss.
I am never scared to take a wager, I know I can win, I bet that if the NR got one person ( need not be a writer) that reported the news as it is and not how the NR wants it, the papers sales would increase.

If the News & Record is sold, it will be for the same reasons that most privately owned businesses are sold as the founder ages, TAXES. The irony of the N&R being sold because the founding family doesn't want the tax burden of keeping it, is music to the ears of those who have disagreed with your politics over the years.
Here's a simple change that will keep your paper around for years, "Talk to your customers!" For years, you have abused your status as a virtual monopoly in Greensboro. As readership shifted to online sources, you raised advertising rates to make up the difference in revenue. As an example, you destroyed People and Places, the Sunday tabloid section. You created the Guilford Record in several editions to replace it. Now to reach the same readers cost several times as much. The business that I manage used to advertise weekly in People and Places. Now we have found that while we can't do that in the Guilford Record because of the cost, it doesn't matter. Our customers, who used to read People and Places every Sunday, line the kitty litter box with the Guilford Record. Thanks for saving us the extra money! We advertised in People and Places for years, did anyone from the N&R talk to us before you killed it off? Of course not, what would we know?
Before all the Rhino lovers chime in, the Rhino is worth what you pay for it. I was a right wing extremist BEFORE it was fashionable and I rate the Rhino right up there with the Guilford Record.
The Sound of the Beep is a trail of swill that mars an otherwise mediocre high school newspaper.

The N&R is little more than vanilla pudding when compared to the red meat which The Rhino so often serves -

Though I would hate for the staff to lose jobs, losing another liberal mouthpiece would warm my cockles. Your so-called "news" services, AP, Reuters, McClatchy NY Times, are nothing but wholly owned subsidiaries of the DNC. I trust nothing they say without checking the facts from reliable sources.

Your editorial page, with an exception or two, is an echo chamber of the Democrats. When I could no longer stand to read the paper I let my subscription expire. Shortly thereafter my delivery person sent me a note with a laughably low subscription rate that I caved in to. I've been sorry ever since. I rarely even read the paper. If I want pro-liberal, anti-Conservative views I'll just CNN, or read the NY Times on line. But I'm fed up with the media pushing those views. Every poll I've ever seen tell us that liberals make up about 20-25 percent of the population. Yet if one only read your publicantion one would think that liberals constitute 80-90 percent! We won't miss you.

Perhaps you could print the names of the Republicans your paper has endorsed over the past ten years in city, county, state of national elections. I suspect it would be a very short list!

Won't be sorry to see you go, but I hope everyone lands on their feet.

Exploration of Strategic Alternatives

Fire who ever wrote this Memo title.

I wouldn't change a thing. I especially like the local coverage. I don't even mind the conservatives that rear their ugly heads every once in a while.

Suggestions for new owners:

Move the deadlines back so that 'game ended too late for this edition' is never used again. I can't believe in this day of instant information that deadlines are earlier today than they were 30 years ago.

Put news in the paper that you can't get elsewhere. There's plenty of it out there and you're missing most of it.

You people griping about the price ... Newspapers are a great deal ... just clip a couple of coupons and the paper pays for itself.

Tony Moschetti said:
Though I would hate for the staff to lose jobs, losing another liberal mouthpiece would warm my cockles. Your so-called "news" services, AP, Reuters, McClatchy NY Times, are nothing but wholly owned subsidiaries of the DNC. I trust nothing they say without checking the facts from reliable sources

One question for you Tony.....if you feel so strongly about the quality of the N&R news, why are you reading stories on www.news-record.com and posting comments on their blogs?
I honestly feel sorry for people with nothing better to do than complain so passionately about things they SAY they do not care about.
Get a Life.

First, for the constructive suggestion for the N&R should it be sold (and even if it shouldn't be sold) - add a TV guide to your Sunday edition. Thanks!

Now for my rant: I always get such a kick out of reading some of the comments on these blogs because there's always someone, like Tony Moschetti, who causes the whole train of thought to derail into how Liberals are Ruining the Country. How sad for this to be one's only purpose.

I did an internet search on his name and found him as author in numerous blog entries on many different blogs (spewing his favorite subject -- hate of liberals), and one showing that he (or someone with his name) sells insurance in the Greensboro area for a firm associated with an obnoxious (but cute) duck in their advertising. It's a shame that such a cute duck is associated with someone so bent on the destruction of free thinking.

Rant over. Go Hillary!

Landmark Communications, the private company that owns the Greensboro News & Record and multiple other newspapers as well as television, cable and other media properties, plans to put itself up for sale.

The Associated Press reported that an announcement of the offering will come today from the Norfolk-based Landmark. There were stories about the planned sale in the News & Record and in the Virginian-Pilot, the company's flagship paper.

Landmark also owns Atlanta-based The Weather Channel. The News & Record said Landmark has not revealed if its portfolio will be sold in pieces or as a whole, and no asking price has been revealed yet.

The company had $1.75 billion in sales in 2006 and employs about 12,000 people.

“The newspaper business and the mainstream media in general, has been a refuge for a bunch of putrid dogmatic marxoids”

“merry band of marxoid hippie creeps at the Greensboro Daily Worker are working a drive through at McDonalds”

“Fire the entire editorial staff.”

“All the NR need to do in my opinion is to hire a red neck”

“Your so-called "news" services, AP, Reuters, McClatchy NY Times, are nothing but wholly owned subsidiaries of the DNC. I trust nothing they say without checking the facts from reliable sources”

“The N&R is little more than vanilla pudding when compared to the red meat which The Rhino so often serves” -

To get this response from the people who wrote the above you must be doing something right...

Of course you could go Fair and Balanced like the RHINO.

Marxoids? I say bring back the Czar.

We need J Edgar Hoover.

Put Davenport in charge of the OP Ed section.

Dig up Roosevelt ( Franklin ) and hang him with Hillary’s model Eleanor.

Ahearn to face firing squad of recently retired police officers ( down town on Saturday night ).

This says it all about the writer:

“From Vermont to California, Montana to Texas, a person could travel the length and breadth of this country and get the same news everywhere in between. How the hell does that happen?”

Just think about that statement.
What would he expect? Shooting did not take place at Virginia Tech

All papers have a political position. That’s fine as long as it stays on the Op Ed page.

I have other gripes with the paper but I do think they do that. Fairly well.

Putting aside their politics give me an example of reporting that was willfully not true.

A real example not a generality.
or quality issue,

Sell the N&R, that's awfully presumptive that there is a greater fool out there in this case.

1. Can the editorial staff.
2. Terminate the wacko writers.
3. Stop writing articles in support of Sandy Carmeny.
4. Just get your news online and from the Rhino.

What is so bad about liberals or conservatives, either? I am a fiscal conservative, a liberal when it comes to taking better care of our children and old folks. I could go on and on like this. So, am I a liberal, conserative or just an American who tries to do the right thing. I am disgusted with the state of our nation at the present time, however. Greed seems to rule over all else!

Oh, well, we do need a newspaper no matter who owns it.

You guys. Most of you can't spell, use poor grammar, probably don't subscribe and offer only stupid, nasty comments. Why would you think the paper cares what you think?

I will be sad to see any changes to the News and Record. The News and Record means so much to me. My grandfather worked there, he even died there, and the love that everyone at the News and Record gave to my dear grandmother and all of us. I will never forget it. I think as Greensboro and the triad has changed and keeps on changing, the News and Record is doing a good job keeping up with the URBAN Sprawl that Greensboro is becoming. I mean those who complain that the paper is on full of ads, well that's what happens when you build a city on Strip Malls! But if you actually read the paper, you will see that the News and Record really cares about providing the news to us.

I hope that if Landmark is sold, nothing will change at the News and Record. And I have total faith that the News and Record will still be with us for a long time to come.

David Colin, what would you call it if a paper ignores the corruption in Raleigh? The NR has given every little coverage to the Parton Theatre sham. Have you seen anything that names the corrupt democrats in this sham. I would call this lying, maybe you are like Clinton, it all depends on what you call lying?

I would make no changes in your editorial page. I like that the way it is.

I would hope that a larger typeface could be used for classifieds. They are virtually unreadable at this time. The paper's typeface is good. It is clear and easy to read.

It is my hope that the N & R could return to a more traditional newspaper format. It could stop trying to look like something it is not and look like a newspaper, which it is. This would involve getting rid of some of the "cutesy" names for sections. "Go Triad" is a perfect example. Where is the Triad supposed to go? I like it where it is. If it's meant as a "cheer," why would a responsible news organization want to do cheers? That lowers your standards far too much.

The news content is good and needs no changes. Again, if you cut some of the fancy titles for pages, you would have more room for news. Keep "Remember When." It could be expanded to a daily feature with items from, 25, 50, 75, and 100 years ago.

I would love to see Gasoline Alley return to the comics. Since you dropped it, I have followed it online.

I have taken the News & Record for 11 years and enjoy reading it. Even if the paper is not sold, some of these ideas might be considered.

I think it's funny that with all that is going on in the world, say like the Iowa Caucus or the Kenya Election Violence or even locally the youth and gang violence, the main article on the N&R homepage is about themselves. And I guess that main article wasn't enough since there are two headlines under the "Latest Headlines" section about the possible Landmark sale. Try reporting some actual unbiased important news. Maybe the community meeting on youth violence is a little more important than which corporation owns a newspaper? I guess we should know better than to expect anything of importance would be reported from our local paper when Britney Spears is a main headline on the three biggest 24-hour news networks.

I would like to read un-biased stories. This is a waste of words because you don't you really think you are biased. I would like to keep up with all the local news, not selective coverage. An example is the Blair Carr DUI. She has been fired and not a word in the N & R. What is the status on Beverly Hinson? You've dropped that. With petetions and so many angry people at the COG. where is the coverage?

I like most of the N&R. the sports, the opinion columns, the crosswords. the humanitarian stories, the comics. Its your coverage of local stories that go badly un-reported.

I said
A real example not a generality.
or quality issue,

"I would call this lying, maybe you are like Clinton, it all depends on what you call lying?"

Ah, Drag out the evil Clinton.

Oh bye the way.

Davenport, Thomas, Sowell, and Will areall to the right.

Dear N&R:
I have been getting your paper daily since December of 1985. I have enjoyed the balanced reporting of news by the paper.

The editorial page presents conservative through liberal commentators.

I was shocked to read on line the hate that was being expressed. Such comments really trouble me.

Bernie Hess

Now wait a minute, who would be the mouthpiece for Terry Grier if the N&R were to go away?

I would use tomorrow's technology, but let the journalism be inspired by the past.

When I worked at the News & Record back in the '80s and '90s, there use to hang framed pages from the turn of the 20th century in the hallway. Two always struck me. One was coverage of the Titanic, and the headline said: TITANIC SINKS WITH HER FREIGHT OF HUMAN CARGO. That always engrossed me. It was so cold and so compelling at the same time.

The other was the end of World War I, and there was a line drawing of the German kaiser. A headline with the drawing said: HERE HE IS FOLKS! TAKE A LOOK AT HIM! Now I'm not exactly advocating something that was almost borderline racist by today's standards, but it was ... provocative.

PROVOCATIVE. That's the word. Those front page were PROVOCATIVE. I'm not advocating titillation (well, almost), but newspapers (just about all U.S. newspapers) have become so bland and so UNSURPRISING. I've worked at five papers, and the News & Record was my favorite and the most creative, but it was and still is rather sheepish and follows the herd. It just did it less so, but was becoming more and more conformist during my stint.

Newspapers need to SURPRISE people again. You pretty well know what you're gonna get each day with the News & Record, and trust me folks, it gets worse in other cities.

Here are some ideas, and you don't need to wait for new owners to try them:

* You have a staff of stellar photographers. What if you let them take over the front page one day and tell every story with photos and captions only? (And then do the same online)

* Lorraine Ahearn, that wonderful marxist, is one of the best writers I've ever had the honor of (not) editing. (She was that good - she never needed editing). Devote the entire front page to a column of hers one day when the subject is right. That would get people talking.

* Take citizen journalism a step further. Pick a day a month out, advertise it and let a panel of seven readers choose all the front page stories and photos that day. They also have to edit the stories and write the headlines. You can run a box tells how the seven where chosen, how the voting went and why they chose what they decided to run. Later, they can write about how it was to run the front page for a day.

* Tales of the City had a cult following among us editors when I worked there. Run your own fictionalized series on the front page and online inspired by the life of ... maybe a guy, his girlfriend and their roommates who live on Tate Street and their friends. I'd read it. You've got writers who could write it.

* We were way short-staffed when I worked there. I don't know how on Earth you're doing it now. Hire back some of the folks you let go and have them working online and with the new technologies that are so cool. For the love of God, we are NOT going to cost-cut our way out of this self-inflicted crisis. And it is self-inflicted. Make no mistake about this. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If cost-cutting were such a phookin' (I can't spell the word I really mean) great idea, we'd be prospering like never before. Somebody better make an investment for the long haul before we all go down the crapper.

* Again, be PROVACATIVE. Don't cringe because 20 people called in to complain. Be happy you got people to pay attention! Quit playing it safe; it isn't working.

* Be ELOQUENT. Bump down those point sizes on headlines and give headline writers room to write something. Come up with a style and method THAT NO ONE ELSE USES.

The News & Record was more creative and took more chances than any of the large dailies in North Carolina when I was there. Be that paper again, but five times as much. Ten times as much. Take chances. Sometimes, you'll fail. But more often than not, you won't. But this is for sure: DON'T take a chance. You're destined to fail. We all are.

Don't wade into these waters. Dive in. I suspect readers just might enjoy the refreshing swim.

I'm not anything if long-winded. I can't sleep tonight, so here are some more ideas to try. Again, don't wait for the new owners. Go for it now.

1. BRIBE people to read the paper. Hold a contest. The prize: IT'S A NEW CAR! (That always thrills me when they say that on the Price is Right). Yes, tell your cheap-ace owners to spring for a new car for a contest. Maybe ... just maybe ... you'll generate enough ads to pay for the scheme. Get an ad sponsor to go with it. For six weeks, let's say, have a quiz you have to answer in each Monday's paper based on stories the day before scattered throughout the Sunday paper. MAKE people read the paper to be able to answer them. The people with the most correct answers are put into a box, and three names are drawn out. They have to do a quiz bowl that you feed live online. Winner gets a car. Promo the heck out of it online and on the front. If it ends up costing too much money, don't ever do it again. If it works, try it again in six months.

2. More reader-participation journalism. Let three readers cover the same school board meeting and write a story for online and the paper. Only rule - has to be the same length. Then let readers vote on who did the best job. Winner gets a free subscription for a year and dinner for two at a good restaurant.

3. On July 4, hold Reporter Independence Day. For that day, no editor can assign any stories to reporters. They can write whatever they want for that day. The only rule is they have to write one story. The copy desk gets to pick their five favorites for the front page, and they can cut them however they wish. The regular editors get no say-so. Let readers know ahead of time you're doing this.

4. A certain editor used to pull off KILLER fashion spreads twice a year. Do you still do that? Hey, fashion is much bigger now than it was then. (Project Runway anyonel?) Cut her loose for a week and do it again. The newsroom will survive without her for a week.

See where I'm heading here? HAVE FUN WITH JOURNALISM. We're so God awful serious and take ourselves so seriously, and the pompousness and boredom and the apathy and sameness and fear is suffocating and palpable. Give your people freedom to do these things. You can't pull off any of these things if you're expending 115% of your energy every week doing what's expected and people wondering if they are gonna have a job next week.

There just may be a meeting you miss or a house fire you don't cover because of it. SO WHAT? SO THE HAYLL WHAT. If that was truly successful, you wouldn't be in this mess now and neither would a whole bunch of other papers.

Here are some other provocative ideas that would get you attention, and eyeballs:

* Have a death row inmate write a story about what it's like to await execution.

* Have all the living former mayors of Greensboro together for a Podcast about what they think of the upcoming presidential election. Run excerpts in the paper the next day.

* Let one of your very fine graphic artists do a full-page, front-page illustration one day on a relevant news topic. I know who they are and I know they can pull it off.

* Grimsley vs. Page: News & Record journalism showdown. Have the students do a writing face-off. Let some professor at Chapel Hill or Guilford College decides who wins.

* Put 20 little short, no-jump stories about the 20 most compelling police calls/crime that happens on a selected Saturday onto the Sunday front page. Set it up like a timeline.

Quit populatiing your front page with the same ol' formula. Shake it up once in awhile.

I promise you, these things would stop people in their tracks, get them to buy the paper, go online and read you BECAUSE YOU SURPRISED THEM. Get the community buzzing. You ought to be completely surprising the readers a minimum of once a month.

" Lorraine Ahearn, that wonderful marxist, is one of the best writers I've ever had the honor of (not) editing."

I agree.

She is our version of a female Jimmy Breslin.

I look at this police issue and cannot find a single
misleading statement from her.

You may not like the facts ( I don't). But her
reporting is on point and truthful.

I challenge any one to point one ( untruth ) out.

I don't know how long this blog will continue and I hope that I am included in the comments. All of the above comments I read came from disgruntled and unhappy N & R readers who have not had journalism education. They were not able to tell the benefits of the newspaper to the local community or the advantage in having news brought to citizens daily. I wrote to the News and Record my ideas to increase newspaper readership back in October, 2007. I also wrote a statewide plan that can be made available upon request that I won't give out in this public forum. Negative comments, however, are necessary and pertinent for the new staff to know what to do for readership growth and expansion. However, without true marketing tools in place, without doing a citywide/areawide questionnaire, or survey of readers that can be evaluated and interpreted, no one person can fathom just what the public expects in a good newspaper. People often buy any newspaper because it is the thing to do. I have followed the
N & R and the changes in its format since 1973. I loyally buy it no matter whether I read it from page to page each day, somehow I manage to get through the pages to see (s e e) what's going on around us. But as I mentioned aforehand, the only way to improve a publication is through the use of marketing science and some financial investment in a market analysis. I hope that I can be a part of the new growth surge and that a lot of good will come from the future newspaper.