DC’s Examiner to cease 6-day-a-week print paper

[DonViejo]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Examiner will stop publishing a six-day-a-week newspaper in June and 87 employees will lose their jobs as it becomes a weekly magazine and online publication, the newspaper’s parent company announced Tuesday.

The free tabloid, which launched in February 2005, will eliminate coverage of local news, sports and entertainment, according Clarity Media Group, its Denver-based parent company. A company spokeswoman said 87 editorial and business employees will be laid off, while 38 staffers will be retained. The new publication focused on national politics will hire at least 20 new people, the company said.

The Examiner is popular with riders of the Metro transit network, where it’s widely distributed, and known for aggressive coverage of local crime, politics, education and transit. Reporters often used the paper as a steppingstone to more established publications. The editorial page is right-leaning, reflecting the conservative politics of Clarity Media Group’s billionaire owner, Philip Anschutz.

Clarity closed its Examiner newspaper in Baltimore in 2009 and sold the San Francisco Examiner in 2011. It still owns The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo., and The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/03/19/dcs_examiner_to_cease_6_day_a_week_print_paper/

[brucefan]

1. Fish wrap n/t

[Andy Stanton]

2. Sad for the people who will lose their jobs

But happy for the loss of a purveyor of right-wing nonsense.

[alp227]

3. Right wing waste of trees n/t

[Faygo Kid]

4. Good riddance to bad garbage.

I take the Metro, and won't touch that hate-filled rag. This is good news.

[alp227]

5. " Examiner's Demise Shows Even Conservatives Are Tired Of Funding Conservative Journalism"

http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/blog/index.blog/2310309/examiners-demise-shows-even-conservatives-are-tired-of-funding-conservative-journalism/

The Examiner print edition is saying goodbye with this EPIC FAIL front page

[Grins]

6. About time.

Several times I have called or written to them to stop delivering that trash to my home but it never stops.

Maybe now....

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. In its favor....

I blow right past the editorials and head for the back. There, I find two things I like about the Examiner. First, it runs the crossword puzzle from the New York Times, though it's delayed five weeks. Second, on Fridays in the spring, writer Kevin Dunleavy does a good job of covering lacrosse. I'll miss his articles. Unfortunately, this is a trend, as the Washington Times laid off its lacrosse writer too, a few weeks back: Washington Times Lacrosse Writer Out of a Job.

The op-ed writers in the Examiner all have day jobs at RW institutions in DC, so they're not about to miss a meal. The people who write the news and sports articles will not fare as well. "Them What Has, Gets."

[Recursion]

8. Their local politics desk was pretty good

The last thing DC needs is for the only desk covering the city government to be the Washington Post *shudder*