Man Sues Newspaper For Laying Off Reporters
from the everything-must-stay-the-same,-always dept
It's no secret that plenty of newspapers have been cutting staff and even the size of their papers in recent months. It's really a reaction to the fact that newspapers spent way too many years in denial that they were no longer the only news sources in town. So now they finally have to adjust, and one first step is shedding some overhead. However, one newspaper subscriber to the News & Observer in North Carolina is suing the paper over its recent cuts. It sounds like it's mostly just a publicity stunt, but Keith Hempstead, a lawyer (and former reporter), says he renewed his subscription in May, just before the paper announced cuts. Thus, he claims, he's getting less than what he was promised when he subscribed -- and that's somehow fraud. It's doubtful this lawsuit will go anywhere and the "point" Hempstead is making actually seems backwards. Marketplaces change and companies in those marketplaces need to change to keep up with the market. Suing them for changing is hardly going to encourage newspapers to embrace necessary change.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: fraud, lawsuits, layoffs, newspapers
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Re:
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Subscription
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Re: Subscription
My thought exactly. They give him his money back and he has no standing to sue. Gotta be cheaper for them to even retroactively give him the full subscription back than spend even one hour of legal time on this case.
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Re: Re: Subscription
Some people need excitement in their life.
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Hard times at the New York Times
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That'll Work!
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lawyers...dirty lawyers
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.. and where will some of the money come from to fight this stupid lawsuit? Yes, you guessed it. By firing even more people!
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Change business model?
What is you ordered a Dell PC with 4GB of RAM. But then they shipped you 2GB, because 4GB didn't really fit their business model?
Or a better example... what if you bought tickets to a concert, but then, because they didn't have enough ticket sales, they cancelled the original band and gave you a cover band instead.
I don't know if he should sue, but getting a refund shouldn't be out of the question. He did get a subscription based on their current number of reporters and their ability to relay the news. With less reporters, he gets less.
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Re: Change business model?
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Re: Re: Change business model?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_xp
b ut back to the topic.... this lawsuite is dumb.
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Re: Re: Change business model?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_xp
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Re: Change business model?
I think you're examples are rather stupid mind you.
Would you sue DELL if they sent you a PC with less memory than you paid for, but really what does that mean? You might have paid for 4GB, but if it didn't fit their model they could say the price of 2GB went up.
In your "BETTER" example, would you sue the REAL band, the concert promoter,the cover band, the venue, etc?I think by demanding a refund, you would get you're money back.
But truly, a better example would be...Guy buys a hooker for the night, turns out the hooker is actually a man. He's not getting exactly what he paid for, now is he, but he has 2 choices:
1. Shut the F' up and take it like a man
or
2. Get his money back
Oh wait, i forgot #3...sue the pimp for false advertising because he ran out of female hookers.
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Silly Manny
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Not sure the reasoning is on track here
I'm not saying it's right but i highly doubt he has thought of the newspapers evolving business model. More or less he's probably retired and bored with a need for somethign to fight about/for.
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Responsibilty to Readers
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Re: Responsibilty to Readers
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Newspapers aren't the only source?
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Reporters Rock!
Reporters are like musicians:
1)They both reveal a unique view of life that would be forever lost if they weren’t there.
2)They have to be nurtured to become greats. Okay, some have talent and some don’t.
3)Newspaper moguls trying to increase profit by laying off reporters is like a record label ripping off musicians.
We'll probably see schools cutting English department funding next.
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After a month I got tired of it all so I ambushed the guy at 5:30 one morning with a Hefty trash bag full of all the papers. I told him to take them back and stop littering on my lawn.
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Seriously
GFTO: ROFL! I had the exact situation some time ago myself. Stupid free papers accumulating to the point you could not walk up the front steps to my house.
I wound up waiting for the imbecile and confronting him with it. He shrugged his shoulders, but agreed to stop throwing the POS on my steps.
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newsprint
print media sales (newspapers) have been plumetting. new business model? Not necessarily. if they want to expand revenues they are going to have to come up with a product that people want to read.
I'm going with "the truth" - people will buy that.
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