Media mayhem

Okay, maybe not mayhem. But alliterative headlines are always good.

News today that the only major media company in Canada currently hiring journos is now cutting 600 jobs:

CRAFT-Sun-Media-Cuts, NewsAlert
NewsAlert
INDEX:Advisories
HL:Canadian Press NewsAlert
THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO -- Newspaper publisher Sun Media to cut 600 jobs in
Western Canada, Ontario and Quebec.

A later story mentioned something about focusing on digital media, which this posting seems to be about, so maybe it'll survive.

And if that wasn't depressing enough, this came out this morning too:

URGENT-Detroit-Newspapers,
INDEX:Business, International, Labour, Media
Union: Detroit papers plan job cuts, less delivery
DETROIT - A union official says Detroit's newspapers plan to cut nine per cent of their work force and offer fewer days of home delivery at a time of slumping revenue industry-wide.
Teamsters' Local 372 secretary-treasurer Ron Renaud says it's unclear where the cuts will fall at the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.
Renaud says the Free Press will be delivered Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays starting in March, while The News will be delivered Thursdays and Fridays.
He says the papers still will be printed and sold at newsstands and readers also will be able to get the papers in a digital edition.
The News doesn't publish a Sunday paper.
The Detroit Media Partnership runs the business operations of the papers. It plans a news conference later Tuesday to announce changes.
(The Associated Press)
10:10ET 16-12-08

I can't see this doing anything but hurting the papers. Subscriptions will automatically have to be limited to two- or three-days a week, presumably cutting subscription revenue in half. But what are readers doing for their papers on the non-delivery days? Walking to the newsstand...or reading it for free online? Even worse, switching off the paper entirely and watching tv instead, or reading a couple of articles online and moving onto other websites? I guess the reasoning would be to try to get people subscribing to the digital edition. I just don't see market share increasing in a scenario that encourages readers to go to the web.