the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Yesterday’s Papers?

Tried to take a shuttle to Spain, they kicked me off the plane
-I guess I’ll go to Japan.
It all looks the same when you stump for the man.

And down in the valley we crawl in the alley-
-who knew the 101 was so long?
Before you get sold, you get bought for a song”
-Fountains of Wayne

-just something that came over the MP3 player while I was driving home from work, and it seemed like a natural parallel to the current situation with our beloved Philadelphia Newspapers. Speaking of which, Will Bunch, ever witty in the face of uncertainty, posts a different kind of March Madness bracket. Personally, I was rooting for an upset in the 2 vs. 15 matchup.

In addition, Dan Rubin wonders about the strange discernment of what is or isn’t a growing market. Good words from a news guy at a time when words must be hard to come by.

Howard, they really did do some very good writing about the issue. And you did an equally great job defending Danin his “Brusied” piece. It is real tumult…and although we don’t like to see our journalist friends go through it, we’re seeing real reporting on the front lines of what it’s like in any company that is going through an acquistion. It’s a great biz lesson.

I thought it was a good piece, and like you, I hate to see what’s happened.

I was just reminded of how different the situation would have been if KR had been privately held. Then maybe this would have been about an actual business decision, as opposed to running scared from your shareholders.

If this had been Calkins (the owners of the suburban papers), it would have been a different tale altogether.