By: Joe Strupp The free Berkeley (Calif.) Daily Planet, which has had its financial ups and downs since launching in 1999, is laying out its economic distress with a frank request for donations on Page One today, and on the homepage of its Web site.
The plea comes in the form of a front page cartoon with a reader opening a copy of the daily and finding it cut up. Underneath, it states: "Without you, there's no Planet."
Related stories inside detail the paper's financial problems and ways to help.
"Confronted with the same harsh economic realities as other American newspapers, the owners of the Berkeley Daily Planet are seeking a new business model to keep community papers alive," a story states. "Without it, say Mike and Becky O?Malley, Berkeley may join the growing roster of cities and towns without a staff of writers paid to track important developments and probe the workings of local government."
?We?re saying that the era of the advertising-supported print publication seems to be over, and we?re facing the same problems as every publication, from the New York Times on down,? Becky O?Malley, the paper?s executive editor, says in the story. ?When we took over, we had some hope that we would at least break even, but the reverse has happened.?
All of the stories and images can be found
here.
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