Sorry, but I'm not ready to throw
the Observer my life preserver

  Before I begin this short rant, let me make one heart-felt statement: For the sake of all the good people who still work at the Observer, I sincerely hope it survives this tumultuous period in the newspaper industry and thrives well into the future.
  I know what it's like to be jobless with a wife, three kids and a mortgage in this hellish recession and I wouldn't wish that kind of adversity on anybody.
  That said, I was miffed by the content of the mass e-mail I received from my former employer Wednesday morning. (I was laid off along with close to 50 other Observer employees in May.)

  Under the subject line "SAVE THE OBSERVER", the content of the e-mail asked me and all the other former subscribers who received it to "subscribe today" because, among other things, the paper has been around for 30 years, it provides Canton residents with "vital and relevant local information" and it "connects neighborhoods and families."
  All that may be true, but does that mean myself and my fellow non-subscribers should help save a newspaper that has reduced its workforce significantly over the past nine months with a series of devastating lay-offs, not to mention the fact the paper appears to be shrinking in size every week?
  I consider myself a compassionate person. If a similar e-mail had been sent to me by a charitable non-profit organization that was struggling to survive -- let's say a museum or a group that helps homeless veterans -- I would have read it intently and probably acted in a compassionate manner.
  But the last time I checked, Gannett, which owns the Observer, is a multi-million-dollar (possibly billions; I don't have time to Google it) for-profit company that employs Lord knows how many extremely well-paid executives.
  And it wants me to help save it?
  I will never re-subscribe to the Observer, but I will offer it some simple advice: SAVE YOURSELF!
  If you want to attract more subscribers, do what every other struggling business does: Come up with some innovative ideas, get more creative and maybe start hiring employees instead of laying them off.
  Once you've done that, re-establish your presence in the communities you report in by re-opening local offices instead of setting up shop in downtown Detroit.
  Try enhancing your product, not streamlining it down to the bare bones.
  One thing you definitely shouldn't be doing is sending out pitiful e-mails, asking people who don't buy your product to help save your paper.
  Because in these brutally tough times, instead of tossing you a life preserver, they're liable to throw you an anvil.
  Probably one similar in size to the one you threw out to me and my family four months ago.

 

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