300 Search Results for The Buffalo News

Jan 13

2025

What is The Buffalo News thinking?

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The vacant Buffalo News building, sold to developer Douglas Jemal. Lee Enterprises bought The Buffalo News nearly five years ago and has vandalized it since. That was never more evident than last week. Let’s start with the extensive use of New York Times obituaries. It’s a pet peeve of mine.  A week ago Sunday, the paper’s local section included no fewer than five such obits, totaling some two pages, almost as much space as as what was devoted to local news in the section.  As is usually the case, the deceased had no connection to Buffalo. In fact, most were[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Oct 8

2024

More upheaval at The Buffalo News

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This has been a tough week for The Buffalo News with word that Editor Sheila Rayam has been ousted and former Publisher Warren Colville has died. Margaret Kenny Giancola, the paper’s managing editor, succeeds Rayam. The News story announcing her appointment by Lee Enterprises, the paper’s chain owner, didn’t explain the move. I’m told Lee hasn’t explained its decision to the newsroom staff, either.  Rayam’s departure comes in the wake of Lee’s decision to eliminate 10 of the newsroom’s approximately 55 positions. That suggests her departure is in part a cost-cutting move.  Insiders tell me Rayam, the paper’s first Black[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Sep 27

2024

More newsroom cuts at The Buffalo News

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Lee Enterprises is taking another bite out of the newsroom of The Buffalo News.  A big bite. Sources tell me Lee has mandated that 10 jobs be cut from a newsroom that has an estimated 55 positions. Five of the cuts will come via either buyouts or layoffs. In addition, five vacant positions will be eliminated altogether. We’re talking downsizing approaching 20 percent, in one fell swoop. And it’s not just a loss of bodies, which translates into less coverage of our communities, but the loss of institutional knowledge when veterans walk out the door. Keep in mind that peak[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 9

2023

Further decline at The Buffalo News

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The wheels continue to fall off the rickety wagon known as The Buffalo News. In fact, the decline is gaining speed. I’m told the staff has been informed by management that daily print circulation is down to about 35,000. Last time I reported, based on 2022 numbers, it was 56,000. That’s down from a peak of 310,000 in the mid ’90s. Digital subscriptions are another 35,000. (More on that later.) There are a variety of reasons for the precipitous decline in print circulation, starting with changing news consumption habits. Nearly nine in 10 Americans get their news from digital platforms;[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Apr 23

2023

The Buffalo News was never a “crown jewel”

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There’s more news to report regarding The Buffalo News – none of it encouraging. The Poynter Institute, a major news media think tank and training center, published a story last week that chronicled the decline of The News. The story is aptly headlined The Buffalo News was the crown jewel of Warren Buffett’s news empire. Now it’s just another Lee paper. Reporter Angela Fu did a good job of detailing all that’s gone wrong since Lee Enterprises bought the paper in 2020, starting with its loss of corporate independence. However, I think the story portrayed the paper in a better[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 20

2023

Worse news yet at The Buffalo News

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I’m writing this in a state of shock at the announcement The Buffalo News will no longer be printed in Buffalo. Lee Enterprises, the paper’s parent company, reported Monday that it is outsourcing its printing and distribution operations to the Cleveland Plain Dealer in October. Some 160 employees will lose their jobs.  This is a punch to the gut. The News is hardly alone in shuttering its printing plant. Down the Thruway in Rochester, the Democrat and Chronicle recently announced that it’s closing its print operation. The paper will be printed in New Jersey. New Jersey! The Syracuse Post-Standard is[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 14

2023

More bad news regarding The Buffalo News

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The downward spiral at The Buffalo News appears to be gaining speed. Last week I reported the departure of four veteran reporters and editors and the pending outsourcing of work performed by the newsroom’s five-person design team. That reduces the newsroom staff to some 65 journalists, down from more than 200 back in the day. The News has since asked the remaining staff to accept a two-week, unpaid furlough. The paper’s managers and other nonunion employees have no choice. The company must negotiate the furloughs with its unions, including the Buffalo Newspaper Guild, which represents what’s left of the newsroom[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 5

2023

The Buffalo News is hemorrhaging journalists

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When Warren Buffett sold The Buffalo News, employees took solace in the fact the new owners could have been worse. I did, too. At least it wasn’t Alden Global Capital, the Darth Vader of newspaper chains. Nearly three years into the new regime, it’s becoming apparent that it might as well have been Alden, as Lee Enterprises is following the same playbook. Cut the staff. Sell off the real estate. Strip the business of what other assets can be liquidated.  Last week, four newsroom employees, with a collective 140 years of experience, “retired.” It was that or see less-tenured colleagues[...]

Posted 2 years ago