This was an alert that speakers Euphemism as a First
Language knew immediately. Others asked “I wonder what they mean,” or “Oh
boy, a price cut!” Or maybe they want a little more money.”
Bingo. Except for the “a little” part. When you get to
the bottom of the page, they tell you the cost will rise by about 80 percent a
year.
What if your landlord or mortgage company decided something
like that? You’d look for new digs.
Inflation may be the new normal, but you can bet confidently
on two things:
--Your income will not match the price increases.
--Some prices will decline eventually.
--The daily paper’s won’t.
Don’t for a minute think news should be free. News is
a business and businesses take money to run. Chances are you don’t work for
nothing. Neither should the people at the paper.
With more money coming in, can we expect a boom in coverage?
Of course not. While there are several great papers staying alive,
chances yours is not among them. So you’ll continue to get junk like
--A highway fender bender.
--A celebration of some event.
--A tribute to … someone or something.
--An occasional unmarked ad posing as a news story.
--The seasonal ball games.
--Elections.
--Crime.
--Recipes.
It’s still important to subscribe. When you do, you stand a
better chance of not getting scammed or starting to cross a bridge the other
end of which has collapsed. You’ll get a vague preview of your next tax bill,
and you can see why the guy you voted into office didn’t deserve your vote --
or didn’t win.
A money-losing paper is going to get sold to a hedge fund,
most likely. That’s almost always bad news. Hedge funds flip
businesses almost as fast as iHOP or the diner counter worker flips pancakes.
Hedge funds and private equity leeches salivate for
newspapers. That’s because they’re easier to get rid of than, say, car
factories. And they’re a lot cheaper to run while they court potential
buyers.
So, what’s going to happen to the local paper with the
mountainesque renewal rate? Impossible to be sure. But chances are
circulation and subscriptions will fall proportionately to the rise. The
advertisers will roll down the mountain and so will everyone’s income.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com
© WR 2021
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