DISQUS

The District Weekly: MORE BAD NEWS FROM P-T OWNER DEAN SINGLETON

  • Ryan_Z · 1 year ago
    Hmm, well that seems to be a sound, progressive managerial decision. I mean, what could go wrong?

    *leaps out of nearest window*
  • John_B · 1 year ago
    No one should be particularly surprised at this revelation. The mainstream Press long ago ceased to be about keeping people informed and government in check and entirely about the bottom line.

    There's nothing at all wrong with profit motive. But when it becomes the central motivator for decisions in the realm of the free press, far more is lost than can ever be truly gained.

    I do not doubt that if Singleton sees an over-riding financial benefit to taking the desks offshore, then ~~hi-ho, hi-ho, it's offshore they will go~~.

    Perhaps it's time for some healthy newspaper competition in Long Beach again.
  • jdonline · 1 year ago
    Let Singleton go offshore at his own risk. Some member of my family has been a PT (or it's predecessors) subscriber since the 1930s and believe me it gets harder all the time to re-up my own subscription as it gets less and less relavant to what I want to know about. I get more and more of the real news from THE DISTRICT, LBREPORT.COM and the LONG BEACH BUSINESS JOURNAL than the PT already. If the PT gets any worse( which it assuredly will if it goes offshore) I predict the biggest loss of subscribers that any newspaper has ever suffered (on a percentage basis).
  • mike guardabascio · 1 year ago
    out of curiosity, why do you keep resubscribing? i hear from people all the time that "it gets harder every year," but nobody seems to be able to cut loose.
  • The Commish · 1 year ago
    Singleton is the Sam Walton of journalism. Maybe we should all go out and rent "Brazil" to remind us of where we're headed.
  • Evan Gould · 1 year ago
    Let the P-T move their operations overseas. Frankly, it may improve the quality of the journalism. I agree that the DW, and LB Report are my primary sources for Long Beach news.
  • wrongbeachJohn · 1 year ago
    It would be great to see the DW expand, but I think it would be a smart move if the Times hired some great LB journalists and covered LB more than they (rarely) do. I've already given up on the tele-rag, and even when I go to their online site I hardly find much interesting, aside from the few local reporters, which takes about 3 minutes to read through.
  • Dave Wielenga · 1 year ago
    I think it is important to get Press-Telegram executive editor Rich Archbold---just identified as one of the most-powerful people in Long Beach---to weigh in on this issue. Anybody know what neighborhood festivial he's attending this weekend?
  • CoastalAdvocate · 1 year ago
    I am still laughing about his promise to 'bury' you guys a while back. Don't hold your breath big shot .

    A lot of us blame this ' Slash and Burn' Singleton guy for doing his best to ruin our local paper in order to profit personally . The more he tweaks it , the worse it gets. Watching this now kind of pleases a lot of us because the readers seem to continue migrating towards the DW and LBR . Yippee !! . His paper loses it's soul, flair , relevance and local' feeling ' more and more each day, and sending the jobs elsewhere sounds suicidal..

    If he followed through with his latest absurd threats, he would probably lose half of his readers in mere months. A lot of us are also planning to' bail ' if Joe Segura gets a pink slip.

    A lot of people seem to think tthat the biggest problem at the PT is a few of the ' know it all' old guard Editors who routinely offend huge segments of this town while spewing their flawed logic and detacted, biased opinions.. No need to preach to the choir about the rest of their problems I suppose.

    Businesswise, I wonder what the value of their franchise is presently and what the profit / loss statement looks like ? How big of a loser is it these days ? It is definitely a dying business. I wonder at what point a conglomeration of local investors can acquire it and install a few of you guys as managing partners, or something. Oh heck, why do that, we have the 'District' now and all we have to do is help you expand and grow.

    Finally, using the phrase 'Our' main man Dean S. was a bit confusing . Is there some shared pecuniary interest or affiliation I missed ?
  • wrongbeachJohn · 1 year ago
    I know quite a few people who have bailed out on the tele-rag. You can always go online for 3-5 minutes to see what's up locally.
    As a 40 year reader, dumping the tele-rag was like jumping into a pool. It's a little uncomfortable initially but soon enough it's just fine.
    It's not the press-telegram anymore anyways.
  • Theo Douglas · 1 year ago
    CoastalAdvocate, I'm a former P-T employee myself (from February 1990 through November 2003). But I wasn't really thinking of any shared interest when I used the phrase "our main man," other than, in a certain sense--merely by owning the P-T, Long Beach's daily paper--Singleton is everyone's main man. Also, the mighty wicked dangerous Ali G. used to use that phrase--and I enjoy remembering "Da Ali G Show."
  • CoastalAdvocate · 1 year ago
    Mr. Douglas,
    Thanks for the explanation and for all of your years of excellent work. A very close associate of ours, who has owned many papers, and who cut his teeth on the 'Pentagon Papers' , told me a lot of terrible things about the apparent greed and lack of conscience of Mr. Singleton .

    At some point in time I think that you fine folks should let the town know more about this guy and his reputation for 'Slash and burn' newspaper acquisition and destruction ?. I have no doubt that a bunch of people would cancel their PT subscriptions solely due to how many institutions and fine people he has supposedly harmed, if my sources are correct ?
    ''
    And 'Yo yo yo'....you all does a great Ali G...yo yo yo..and ''..peace out..''...and....''maach luv''.
  • Scott A · 1 year ago
    I believe that every city should have a local newspaper. Having said that, the Press Telegram ceased being a local paper and the "news" that it prints is hardly that.

    Sure they occasionally print something that is relevant but they have by and large ceased being a newspaper. They seem to just dissemenate whatever the local government tells them with extremely little, or no, investigation.

    Sad to see the PT go? No, I am over that because they left a long time ago. I find much more local news reporting online that I ever have found in the print edition of the PT.
  • Fun Baggs · 1 year ago
    Rich Archbold is a genius and his forward thinking septuagenerian cavalier attitude towards the decimation and demise of one of the voices of the city is amazing.

    His silence is deafening.