Now they are officially junk.

The New York Times is reporting a 51% decline in profits and in response, the rating agencies cut the company's debt to junk. 

After the release of the earnings report, Standard & Poor’s lowered the Times Company’s credit rating below investment grade, a move that would increase borrowing costs. Moody’s Investors Service said it was considering doing the same.

That seems quite poetic.

Comments

[TS]

Actually, they reported third-quarter PROFITS were down 51.4%.

REVENUES were down just 8.9%.

Isn't this the same type of sloppy and/or biased (given your obvious distain for the Times) reporting you constantly criticize the media for?

You can do better, Greg!

[Innovate Arizona]

Unfortunateyl, it's a tough time for all traditional media.

[TS]

Glad to see your post has mysteriously been corrected ...

[Mesa Joe]

The Christian Science Monitor also announced today that in April of next year it will no longer publish every day, but will become a weekly paper. The plan is to increase emphasis on the web.

[muckraker]

Gannett just announced more layoffs by end of November. 10 percent of its workforce.

[ron]

The saddest story in the press this morning isn't this one.

It is the story of the closure of Brown Homebuilders. Dave Brown and his family are respected citizens of our community who have blessed our valley with there generosity. To think that he can't find a line of credit to complete the houses he has already sold is very sad.

Not only did Mr. Brown have to lay off 60 of his own employees, all the trades working on those homes are out of work.

The banks who hold the line of credits will take possession of the real estate and unfinished houses. This is theft of the first order.

[TS]

Considering the East Valley Tribune just laid off more than 40% of its already depleted newsroom (several other papers recently have cut a similar percentage), I predict this just-announced 10% cut at Republic and other Gannett papers will soon be followed by more cuts.

With revenues at most newspapers down almost 20% over past year, staffs need to be reduced much more than 10% to return papers to their previous profit levels. (Of course, they could choose to just accept lower profits, but that'll never happen.)

The Tribune and other papers probably decided to adjust their staff sizes to the new reality all at once. The Republic is going to do it in smaller pieces.

[Nick S.]

Maybe if the NYT didn't refer to its own reporting as "fake but accurate" and wasn't actively campaigning for Obama, its subscriptions would stabilize.

Oh well, when a newspaper puts theology over the facts, this is what happens.

[nick]

Michael Malone at ABC.

"But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I’ve begun — for the first time in my adult life — to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was “a writer,” because I couldn’t bring myself to admit to a stranger that I’m a journalist."

[Name:]

At some point I retain hope that the NYT would at least be able, if not willing, to blast the Obama Administration to smithereens and do some real journalism. But if they don't even exist, those hopes are dashed.