Tonight in Orange, the OC Press Club, which features quite a few newly-departed OC Register reporters, editors and photographers, will gather for the first Furlough Friday — a “Drinking Liberally” of sorts for journalists. That’s at Paul’s Cocktails on West Chapman in Orange starting at 6PM. Consider stopping by and buying a round. The invite from the Press Club concludes with “See you in the Funny Papers.”
And “Funny Papers” might be the appropriate new name for Freedom Communications. We’ve been sent a flier for a VIP July 4th bash in Newport Dunes sponsored by the Register featuring a free concert by KC and the Sunshine band. “Exclusive Perks and VIP access to “Freedom Place” and a prime spot to watch the fireworks. Now, any business going through a tough patch would be mistaken to cut its marketing efforts. But in light on the massive cuts in staff, the shrinking newshole in the paper, and the loss of senior experienced journalists, marketing efforts by the Register might be better done via a more subtle approach to assure its reader’s of standards for quality journalism, commitment to “news that matters,” and to advertisers to let them know about the how the paper reaches potential customers.
A VIP reception with a concert and a hospitality suite strikes invokes an image of the string quartet playing as the Titanic sank to an icy grave. I’d think VIPs would be a tough crowd for Register management to deal with especially if they are business leaders or advertisers in the community.
For those friends we have at Register going to the Furlough Friday event today, check out the jukebox and play some KC & The Sunshine Band. That’s the way, uh-huh-uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh uh-huh.
Can’t blame the brass for partying like it’s 1999. I wonder if any of those expenses are tax deductible?
If the latest OC Weekly article is accurate about the financial straits of the OC Reg., I predict Kushner rides it into the ground and sells off that huge real estate footprint (building and parking lot) to recoup his losses.
As a blond friend likes to say, “it ain’t rocket surgery.”
You need a good product to turn a profit in newspaper publishing and the Register simply isn’t a good product with its biased Libertarian slant and bent on cherry-picking news that comports with its rightwing readership. The hubris of Kushner and Spitz to think they could single-handedly reverse a 20-plus-year decline newspaper sales when they are a discretion defies logic. While some newspapers, notably “The Philadelphia Inquirer,” turn a profit the days of the vast fortunes built by publishing barons, such as William Randolph Hearst and Colonel McCormick, are over.