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posted by martyb on Saturday December 09 2017, @11:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the sign-of-things-to-come? dept.

America Magazine reports:

"LA Weekly is being sold to Semanal Media, a mysterious new company," reported the L.A. Times; other news outlets offered much the same, noting that none of the newly-created Semanal's investment partners would make their names known.

As LA Weekly's more than three million online readers—the largest of any alternative weekly in the country—read about renters being summarily evicted simply for asking about increased rents, Semanal's new operations manager, Brian Calle, fired nine of the magazine's 13 staff, including all of its editors and its publisher.

"We were expecting there to be some pain with the sale of @LAWeekly," wrote editor-in-chief Mara Shalhoup online. "But we weren't expecting the Red Wedding."

[...] Two days later, in his first official message to readers, Mr. Calle spun the move as indicative of the news media's broader struggles in the digital age. LA Weekly, he said, had been on a "declining trajectory" and the new owners wanted to help make the publication "relevant" again.


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @09:54AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @09:54AM (#607950)

    The owners of LA Weekly were offered some agreeable sum for their company and chose to take it. The new owners, mysterious or otherwise, then decided to gut the place. What's the problem? Am I supposed to be mad at evil corp for firing the staff or should I be angry with the old owners; who took the money instead of fighting the good fight?

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @10:34AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @10:34AM (#607959)

    Am I supposed to be mad at evil corp for firing the staff or should I be angry with the old owners ?

    Yup. This is how Capitalism works:
    If you're not The Big Fish, you're just bait.

    {Advocacy for worker-owned cooperatives goes here; gain a voice in how things are run.}

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @01:58PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @01:58PM (#607991)

      No you've gone off-script. You're meant to say aww shucks what can you do, then shrug and walk off.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @07:58PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @07:58PM (#608039)

      Maybe the gov will get it better? Socialist and Communist states have NEVER done anything wrong with their newspapers right? /sarc

      News is a dying art form of the type we are used to. It is all clickbait and outrage yellow journalism. All to stroke your ego and make you feel better for poor decisions you make. I can in about 10 seconds find a dozen 'newspapers' to stroke whatever silly idea I have in my head. Do not confuse your cognitive bias with something that means anything and that you are somehow 'the right choice'. Look outside of your bubble. You will find it icky and against everything you believe but you may learn something.

      And for fuck sake at this point just log the fuck in. You have made whatever silly point you want to make. You are wasting everyone's time. I have been on you about this for a year or two now. You can do better.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @09:39PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 10 2017, @09:39PM (#608066)

        Socialism is an economic form.
        The indicator that a system is Socialist is the existence of worker-owned cooperatives AKA "Democracy in the Workplace".
        The governmental form required for Socialism to exist is Democracy.
        Socialism is often described (by those familiar with the term) as DEMOCRACY EVERYWHERE.

        Marx described Communism as a bottom-up thing.
        All of the states that have called themselves "communist" have been top-down things.
        There hasn't been 1 yet that fit the prescribed mold.
        Stalinism, Maoism, Castroism, Hoism ... have all been top-down Totalitarian things.
        (Remember that none of the fancy words in the name of the DPRK actually apply.)
        N.B. In his later years, Lenin came around to endorsing the "All power to the soviets[1]" concept--but he got off to a rocky Authoritarian start and, by then, had a lot of backpedaling to do.

        An actual Socialist|Communist place would have news sources that are worker cooperatives.
        Point to one of those in your "Socialist|Communist states".

        [1] A soviet is a workers' council; a very local, granular thing.

        ...and how are you enjoying your "the majority rules" "democracy" where the rich minority get to make all the decisions?

        I can in about 10 seconds find a dozen 'newspapers' to stroke whatever silly idea I have in my head

        That's called "freedom". Enjoy it while it lasts.
        With each day, we get closer to a replay of the Fascist 1930s.
        (This assumes that Trump doesn't start WWIII first--which will be nuclear this time.)

        log the fuck in [...] I have been on you about this for a year or two now

        I'd first have to get an account.
        I'll give it some thought.
        ...after you've demonstrated how yourself.
        ...though I've made it pretty clear what my position is on this. [soylentnews.org]

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]