I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The New York Times has an interesting article on the plight of newspapers. And they ask the question — when will a major city in the United States become a no-newspaper town?
Albuquerque became a one-newspaper town a little more than a year ago with the closing of The Albuquerque Tribune. Denver recently became a one-newspaper when The Rocky Mountain News closed. But things may get worse in the media landscape of certain cities.
“In 2009 and 2010, all the two-newspaper markets will become one-newspaper markets, and you will start to see one-newspaper markets become no-newspaper markets,” Mike Simonton, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, who analyzes the industry, said to The New York Times.
While Albuquerque, with The Albuquerque Journal, appears to be safe from that fate, other cities aren’t so lucky.
The Hearst Corporation, which owns The [Seattle] Post-Intelligencer, has also threatened to close The San Francisco Chronicle, which lost more than $1 million a week last year, unless it can wring significant savings from the operation.
So what will happen when a city is without a daily newspaper to report on the news?
At this point, no one knows. But soon, we may get our test case.
