In another sign of the media’s industry’s dreary times, almost all of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation penned a letter to the chairman of the New York Times seeking mercy for the Boston Globe.
The New York Times Company owns the Globe and has threatened to close the daily if it doesn’t get $20 million in union concessions.
In a letter dated April 24, the Bay State delegation urged Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., the chairman of the Times Company, to avoid shutting down the paper.
“We understand the serious financial challenges facing the newspaper industry today,” they wrote. “The ramifications, however, of closing the Boston Globe would far outlive the current recession.”
“We urge you to treat the Globe fairly and to work together on a solution to this immediate crisis that preserves the newspaper for the future,” they also wrote.
The Times Company bought the Globe in 1993 for $1.1 billion and has since lost millions. The Globe has projected that it will lose $85 million in 2009.
The members of the Bay State’s all Democratic delegation who signed the letter included: Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy; Reps. Edward Markey, Barney Frank, Richard Neal, John Olver, Jim McGovern, John Tierney, Bill Delahunt, Michael Capuano and Niki Tsongas.
Only Rep. Stephen Lynch declined to sign the letter. When asked why, Lynch spokeswoman Meaghan Maher said the congressman didn’t believe it was his place to intervene.
“Congressman Lynch felt that, while he respects the decision of others who decided otherwise, given his own position, it was inappropriate and a conflict of interest for him to sign onto this letter,” Maher said.
Maher said Lynch didn’t think supporting a paper was appropriate given that the paper is supposed to cover him objectively.
Does Lynch have a point? This isn’t exactly a government bailout, but it is something, no?