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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A Slow And Painfull Death Of A Newspaper


With other outside Newspapers looking in and possibly taking over the marketplace with a FREE Paper, the end of the Daily Times could be closer than you think.

The Daily Times continues to make major mistakes, the last one was shutting down a $3.5 million press housed right here in Salisbury. Why is this such a serious matter, because their deadline gets bumped up a few hours and as I could see from this mornings paper, they're two days behind in news and they can't do anything about it.

Salisbury News announced 2 days ago that gas prices would quickly skyrocket and today the Daily Times has finally gotten on board. What's going to happen when a story breaks at 9 PM on a Monday. The quickest they can get the story published is the Wednesday paper.

It's the beginning of the end, no doubt about it. While may of us have traditionally purchased Newspapers and enjoyed getting up in the morning with a cup of coffee and the paper, those days are gone too. Why, because the younger generation follows the Internet. They get their cup of coffee and sit in front of a monitor and get news probably faster than the Daily Times does anyway.

So where does that leave us. Well, municipalities still rely on Newspapers to publish legal notices and so forth but Congress is looking at changing those laws to allow that same information to be published on line. If that happens any time soon it will be the end of all Newspapers. Newspapers make so much money, (especially right now with foreclosures) in their advertising it isn't funny.

For example, the business card size ads you see here on Salisbury News can run you up to $600.00 for ONE DAY in a local Newspaper. Salisbury News charges $100.00 a MONTH for that same ad. 30 more days for $500.00 less a month! Wait until you see what happens when the legal ads come to Salisbury News.

Its only a matter of time before they sell out or close their doors. On a final note, the City of Salisbury has given the Daily Times tax breaks, (Enterprise Zone) they no longer deserve. The Press isn't being used any more, therefore they should not be reconsidered for such breaks. They no longer employ 200 people, more like 20 now. If the Mayor and Council want to impose impact fees, well, they better research the companies that are no longer performing. Why should the taxpayers pay for the Daily Times to get breaks when they're no longer providing jobs to the community.

In Fact: How many companies throughout the state of Maryland are performing as represented in their Enterprise Zone applications and what is the state doing doing to stay on top of this?

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