Coastal NC paper closes, publisher lays off son & daughter-in-law

[franticscribe]

No surprise that newspapers are struggling and too many have been closed in recent years.

But when I ran across this story, I found it incredibly odd. The publisher's son & daughter-in-law were the only employees and he apparently decided to cease publication without discussing it with them. Now they're trying to start a new publication:

https://www.wect.com/2023/03/16/island-gazette-no-longer-business-owners-look-build-new-paper/

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

Well, this ought to make family gatherings in the future a bit ... interesting ...

 

[Della9250]

Well, this ought to make family gatherings in the future a bit ... interesting ...

Doesn's sound like there's a lot of communication, let alone gathering:

McKee says he has not been able to reach his father to discuss why the paper was shut down

 

[Della9250]

No surprise that newspapers are struggling and too many have been closed in recent years.

But when I ran across this story, I found it incredibly odd. The publisher's son & daughter-in-law were the only employees and he apparently decided to cease publication without discussing it with them. Now they're trying to start a new publication:

https://www.wect.com/2023/03/16/island-gazette-no-longer-business-owners-look-build-new-paper/

How much do you have to hate your kid to blindside him in putting him and his wife out of a job?

 

[Driftwood]

The entire area has a dearth of news presence. Wilmington Star News has quit trying. We have one of the free papers called Topsail Times, but it seems to be published by a bunch of local wackadoos. After a couple of issues, I won't even pick it up to start charcoal for my grill out of principle.
Port City Daily seems to do a good job.

 

[Twirling Time]

I started out at one of those tiny family newspapers in the 1990s basically as a stringer at first and they eventually entrusted me with more duties like pagination and shipping the proofs. The publisher, his wife, his daughter, two of his sons-in-law, and finally his sister worked there over time. I wasn't a part of the family but I fit in and it was great.

Unfortunately, I had to eat so it didn't last.

 

[FileNotFound]

For everything that sucks about corporate media, working for a paper owned by a dysfunctional family is way worse.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

The entire area has a dearth of news presence. Wilmington Star News has quit trying. We have one of the free papers called Topsail Times, but it seems to be published by a bunch of local wackadoos. After a couple of issues, I won't even pick it up to start charcoal for my grill out of principle.
Port City Daily seems to do a good job.

I hope you're correct. The Wilmington Star-News quit trying long before NYT sold it, followed by the hot-potato treatment in the ensuing years.

For everything that sucks about corporate media, working for a paper owned by a dysfunctional family is way worse.

Depends on the family and the situation. Worked for two family-owned products in North Carolina. Both had their advantages ... and both had their obvious drawbacks.