The Beacon goes after Globe-Democrat ...

Via PunchingKitty, here's the story as published in the STL Beacon, which is itself an online-only news service built using a minimum number of former print folk:

Globe-Democrat.com lays off reporters, shifts emphasis

By Dale Singer, Beacon staff

Posted 1:31 p.m. Thurs., 05.13.10 - The St. Louis Globe-Democrat website has laid off three news reporters and plans to refocus its efforts on sports and political news, its owner said Thursday.

Dan Rositano, who resurrected the Globe-Democrat name and began publishing the news website on Dec. 8, said news reporters Brian Flinchpaugh, Steve Birmingham and Lisa Watson lost their jobs on Monday.

(edit)

He said with the change in emphasis, there will be people in the office who can make telephone calls to cover stories if necessary, but news reporters will not be in the field.

"It will be an item by item deal," Rositano said. "We have people here. If there's a situation that warrants us covering something, we have the ability to call people up and get information."

The Beacon employs former print reporters and for that they should be cheered.  However, few stories about them, in any media reports, have mentioned that a very few of the top-level employees are earning at a substantial rate while those in lower ranks are earning at pennies-per-word.  All of The Beacon's operating capitol comes from donations.  The website is operated as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.  There is no advertising.

Rositano's online resurrection of The Globe, however, is a purely commercial operation, depending on investors and income derived from advertising, sold as their sales staff can sell it.  Rositano's running a crap game while The Beacon passes by inside a comfortable lounge with a well-funded poker game for whales.
 
The Beacon is editorially left-wing in its presentation; The Globe is not and clearly has fewer dollars to invest in resources.
 
Much like PBS TV stations, which have enormous government funding programs and in-the-bank financial resources to pay for their high-tech equipment and programming, and which can be refreshed with mind-numbing fundraisers at a moment's notice, easily outpacing commercial TV stations that struggle for income, The Beacon will dance lightly by The Globe.
 
This is the way the Fairness Doctrine the Left wants imposed is put into place, by financial and political fiat and is not real fairness at all.

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