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.
Massachusetts U.S. Sen. John Kerry is going to hold hearings in the Senate Commerce Committee on the plight of newspapers according to the Boston Globe.
The Globe itself is in trouble, as its parent company (the New York Times Co.) “threatened earlier this month to shut down The Boston Globe unless its labor unions agree to $20 million in cost concessions, including pay and benefit cuts.”
Newspapers around the country are in trouble, with the Rocky Mountain News shutting down earlier this year and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer moving to an online-only format, along with drastic staff cuts.
“America’s newspapers are struggling to survive and while there will be serious consequences in terms of the lives and financial security of the employees involved, including hundreds at the Globe, there will also be serious consequences for our democracy where diversity of opinion and strong debate are paramount,” Kerry wrote in a letter sent to union leaders Friday, which the union released yesterday.
This news comes on the heels of a report that showed that newsroom cuts in 2008 were the worst in at least 30 years.
So while traditional newspapers are clearly in trouble around the nation, can the government do anything?
U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, introduced legislation designed to allow certain newspapers to operate as nonprofit 501(c)(3) entities. The New Mexico Independent, part of the Center for Independent Media‘s network of news Web sites, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
