Connecticut Local Politics

A buyer has emerged for the Bristol Press and the Herald of New Britain. Read the story on the Bristol Press website. There’s more at Steve Collins’ blog.
Here’s hoping both papers can turn themselves around once they’re out from under the Journal-Register company!

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Today is a sad day for Connecticut media. At 10:00, Diane Smith will be signing off WTIC for the last time; at 6:00, Colin McEnroe will do the same (who knows - by the time you read this we may be short several more dailies and scores more weeklies as well). Both shows [...]

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Remember all the downsizing and cost-cutting the Courant did earlier this year? Fat lot of good it did. The Courant’s parent company, Tribune, has filed for bankruptcy as it struggles under $13 billion in debt.
As of right now, nothing is going to change at the Courant. The bankruptcy proceedings shouldn’t affect the day-to-day operations of [...]

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Nothing is certain yet, but there’s a cautious optimism that lawmakers can help find the Herald and Bristol Press find new ownership.
Read about it at Steve Collins’s Bristol Today, Capitol Watch and CT News Junkie.

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Paul Bass reports on more layoffs at a New Haven manufacturer and the New Haven Register:

Five newsroom cuts are among 20 positions being eliminated today, newsroom sources confirmed.
Three of the five laid-off reporters and editors comprised the entire editorial staff of Play, the weekly arts and entertainment newspaper the Register publishes. That publication, which was [...]

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Newspapers in Connecticut have fallen on very hard times. The Courant recently completed a large-scale downsizing and redesign, the New Haven Register eliminated its Capitol reporter, and today we received word that the Herald and Bristol Press may disappear completely by the beginning of next year.
Worse, a source informs me that the Journal-Inquirer, my favorite [...]

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In their first story on the Fourth Congressional District race (primary or general) in at least two weeks, the Norwalk Hour contains this passage:

So far, interest in the Democratic primary election in Norwalk has been lackluster, based upon the number of absentee ballots sent out and returned to the Town Clerk’s office. As of Friday [...]

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Come September, the Hartford Courant is going to be a lot trimmer, with fewer pages devoted to news and fewer reporters to report it.
The cuts were announced today. Here’s the highlights:
Nearly 60 jobs will be eliminated, most by July 31, as The Courant reduces its newsroom staff from 232 to about 175.
[...]
The number of pages [...]

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I’m pretty fond of the Hartford Courant. It’s been my hometown paper all my life. It’s a Connecticut institution, love it or hate it.
That’s why it bugs me to much to see the latest round of really bad news for Connecticut’s paper of record.
CEO Sam Zell also said the newspapers could eliminate a nationwide [...]

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If you were allowed two questions to somone running for President of the United States, what would they be?
If you answered:

What is the most expensive haircut you have ever gotten?

And:

Since you announced on Imus, and Imus is now off the air, where will you announce you are dropping out of the race?

[rough paraphrases]
Then you are [...]

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