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Here’s the truth about the Detroit Daily Press suspension
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The sudden screeching halt to the latest and most courageous Detroit enterprise has a lot of people talking this weekend, and a lot of that talk is just crap. The entire debacle has local media up in arms - although some of them have bared their arms, much to the public's loss.
Let's call them what they are: behemoth bullies. OK?
I'm talking about the unexpected suspension of the newest area daily newspaper, the Detroit Daily Press. First brainstormed last spring in response to the gutting of local media coverage by the only big games in town, The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, its debut was just this past Monday, November 23rd. By Thursday, the cessation of its printing had both newcomers and veterans buzzing - not to mention the public, who have been yelling for a daily newspaper for months.
A nebulous entry on DDP's Facebook page had even the employees wondering what happened, especially those out chasing stories in the field who weren't in the newsroom for yesterday's noon announcement from publishers, Mark and Gary Stern. It cited problems with distribution, late press runs, lack of advertising and sales, which were "beyond our control."
Apparently what would have provided better control was DDP's own cache of gorillas who could strong-arm the competition, like the competition has been strong-arming them. Can you say "Media Mafia?"
An irrefutable source confirms that the other Detroit print behemoths actually threatened to pull their own papers from retailers such as CVS, if they kept good on their original promise to carry and sell the Detroit Daily Press.
HUH?
Likewise, the same bullies pressured printers to not do business with the Royal Oak-based newspaper, and continually changed any previous agreement to print the DDP. Requirements such as cash up front for that day's work, among other out-there demands were meant to break any original agreement as well as management's back.
"Press runs ran late once, and then two of the other five days, the presses broke down," said the source.
Yeah, well, they ran late one day because THE LIONS WON AT THE VERY LAST SECOND OF SUNDAY'S GAME and everything for the paper's premier copy had to be scrapped and re-arranged. That's the newspaper biz for you.
On the other occasions, DDP's drivers, who have been criticized by the behemoths' bullies for not being union members, didn't wait for the papers.
What does that mean for the public?
No distributors + an aura of threats = no choice for potential readers who really WANT a daily paper.
Meanwhile, for two weeks, some media couldn't wait to talk crap about the DDP, faulting everything from its dedication to covering what they deem as old news (nice, considering that most of the behemoths' writers never even leave the comfort of their desk chairs to chase down stories), to picking apart the new layout and snarking about how employees wouldn't be paid.
Grow UP.
Detroit Daily Press employees expected that type of barrage of sludge from the comp, but overall they thought it would disappear in time, as they earned their chops.
So, here's a question for the morons: If the Detroit Daily Press was so uselessly silly and didn't pose a threat to the Media Mafia - who has had everything tied up for years in an incestuous excuse for news coverage in one of the country's major cities - then why are you working so hard to destroy it, even before it gets on its feet?
Well, guess what, bullies? Detroit Daily Press employees were promptly paid today, and they are waiting on the callback to work in January.
Assuming, of course, that Tony Soprano and his crew can be hired out of retirement to guarantee the safety of someone else with an opinion who can practice freedom of speech in the Motor City.
Detroit's "other" media should be ashamed of itself. You are not harbingers of free speech, but suppressors and oppressors.
And, that's the new news.
Update 1/11/10: According to the DFP, a press release issued by owners on Saturday states that the DDP is on permanent suspension. This undoubtedly thrills the naysayers, but I am sorry for the public as well as the dedicated DDP staff who tried so hard to make it the success it should've been. Numerous employees put all of their eggs in the DDP basket -- some uprooting any previous stability -- in a terrible economy to help it debut. That type of effort deserves respect.
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