Amesbury News

Well I heard over the weekend that the Amesbury News still does not have an editor in place to replace Kevin Doyle. I know that Kevin gave a month's notice so I guess that signifies the state of affairs at Community Newspaper Company. Or how little they pay. Or both.

As some of you may know, Kevin was once the sports editor at the Daily News. He and others were a couple of years ago ousted, I believe because they were "too old" - only, I'm sure, not phrased that way.

I would recommend to those not already fans the HBO series "The Wire." Its final season arc involved a newspaper, the politics at a newspaper, and how newspapers are going away from the seasoned reporter in favor of young reporters fresh from journalism school. The ones they can pay less.

And how it's all about revenue, of course. And getting those awards.

I was talking with someone else this morning who was carrying on about how no one reads newspapers anymore and how papers were launching magazines (this person is not from this state so was not talking about the Eagle-Tribune and its attempts to cash in on the success of Merrimack Valley Magazine by launching glossy magazines in communities its papers cover).

So I wonder, why are people more inclined to read a magazine than a newspaper? I personally am not so inclined, but I do like to read a newspaper on line.

And I wonder, is the Eagle-Tribune willing to invest in the heavy glossy paper and the calibre of writers that contribute to MVM (a couple of whom left an Eagle-Tribune paper, or were similarly to Doyle ousted, I might add).

I applied to the Daily News, even before resigned from the Current. There's an interesting story here, by the way. The looks I used to get from those Daily News people (excluding reporters Stephen Tait, Katie Farrell and Katie Curley, who were and are very pleasant)!

Needless to say, I no longer expect that the Daily News will be hiring me anytime in the near future.