The Boston Globe under the Recession Gun

The mine field that the US newspaper industry has become threatens every single publication, even the most storied ones, such as The Boston Globe.

The New York Times Co., owner of the paper, has warned it that it either gets $20 million in union concessions or it will shut it down.

The Boston Globe's future is
hanging by a thread (EPA photo)

The parent company of The New York Times is already swimming in a sea of debt, $1.1 billion to be exact, and has taken drastic measures to brave the perfect financial storm that has already taken down one major newspaper, Denver's Rocky Mountain News, and forced several others into bankruptcy.

The Associated Press:

The threat to the Globe, announced Friday on the Globe's Web site, has shocked some industry insiders, who say it shows no one is safe.

"It is a huge warning shot across the bow of the newspaper industry. If this can happen to the storied Boston Globe, pretty much nothing is safe," said Boston University communications professor Tobe Berkovitz.

Of the major dailies that have gone down, none has the cachet of the Globe, he said.

The threat to close the paper "sends a very clear message to all employees and unions of surviving newspapers — that this is not business as usual," said Ken Doctor, a media analyst with the research firm Outsell. "This is uncharted territory."

In 1993, The Times invested the same amount of money it owes today, $1.1 billion, to acquire The Globe, which at the time was one of the country's most profitable newspapers.