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March 17, 2006
A Little Gray Lady Schadenfreude
Marketwatch.com reports that Moody's may downgrade the New York Times' ratings:
The agency said the review is prompted by Moody's growing concerns about the media company's high financial leverage, deteriorating operating margins and weak free cash flow available for debt reduction, combined with concerns over intensifying cross media competition, including the Internet, and growing event risk in the newspaper sector.
Not to mention that last year's fourth-quarter earnings fell 41% from the same period the year before. This followed a 52% decline in third-quarter profit.
Could this have anything to do with a precipitous decline in credibility? Or could it be that the market for moonbattery isn't booming anymore?
Is it too soon to call this a tailspin?
Posted by Van Helsing at March 17, 2006 1:38 PM
Comments
To a certain extent it's part of a general downward trend in all the deadtree media, though it seems that the left wing deadtrees are suffering a much greater loss than other, more balanced media.
Posted by: Archonix at March 17, 2006 7:22 PM
Only Zee Germans could come up with a word like Schadenfreude. It sounds like a bodily function and is incredibly cruel at the same time.
Posted by: associatecontributor1 at March 18, 2006 8:00 PM
Only Zee Germans could come up with a word like Schadenfreude. It sounds like a bodily function and is incredibly cruel at the same time.
Posted by: associatecontributor1 at March 18, 2006 8:00 PM
Schadenfreude is not cruel in and of itself. Its taking joy in the misfortune of others...for instance...I think its pretty funny that your comment showed up twice while you were trying to insult Germans.
Posted by: Echotig at March 18, 2006 9:55 PM
It has been a pleasure watching the MSM go into a tailspin indeed! Great post!
Posted by: Rebecca at March 18, 2006 11:17 PM
The word is a lot more complex than simply taking joy, isn't it? I was always under the impression that it was one of those ultra-condensed words, like the French "milieu", wich translates variously as occupation, plateau, field, level, environment, setting and "thing".
Course, I'm not german, so I could be wrong. :)
Posted by: Archonix at March 19, 2006 5:28 AM
Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude (denn sie kommt von Herzen): "Schadenfreude is the most beautiful kind of joy (since it comes directly from the heart)." (proverb)
Posted by: Echotig at March 19, 2006 12:35 PM
Shareholders happy are they, Pinchy?
Posted by: nikko at March 19, 2006 5:19 PM
I don't think the extreme left media has ever made any real money. On the flip of the coin though extreme conservatism isn't very profitable either. Whenever you travel to far one direction or another you eliminate enormous amounts of your audience. I don't feel the "left" influence on New York Times has dropped sales though. It is a trend in all newspapers, one reason is many people get their information from other sources now. I read most my articles on the web now like many Americans. This has to be cutting into newspapers profits. Perhaps newspapers are a relic of last century and will eventually disappear altogether.
I think that if you want to make good money in America right now you would do best to cater to the moderate conservatists. Rush Limbaugh is a great example of this. Coming from a leftist talkshow background he made the switch to the right wing and made millions. It is no wonder though because much of the wealth in this nation is found in the conservative sector. I guess it just pays to be conservative so to speak.
Posted by: Reed Harding at March 19, 2006 5:43 PM
I guess it just pays to be conservative so to speak.
Which is why Bubba Clinton gets them hefty speaking fees. Damned conservative!
Posted by: Jonathan at March 19, 2006 9:15 PM
PT Barnum comes to mind here.....
Posted by: nikko at March 19, 2006 10:55 PM
