Bagels and Republicans

I have a couple of comments re: two recent posts, one about the "bagel" shop...which the poster thinks is awesome! Well, the food IS awesome. The service is often very slow and the servers are rude. If you want the true New York experience, you get it there. Not just my opinion, but that of many who are in Danville. Several people I know have spoken with the owners, but that's what it is. If you like great bagels, pastries and food and don't mind bad service or rudeness - go for it. The owners know this. It's not the first time anyone has said anything to them. It's just the first time someone has said so publicly. I have a right to my opinion, you have a right to yours.

I was in there a couple months ago just to get a soda and see if things had changed...not so much. I agree. The food really is great. Love the sandwiches. But I like to think a business is happy to see me spend my money in their establishment. Food doesn't taste quite as good when the server is rude.

And the second issue - the Republicans aren't happy with the newspaper - which has become predominantly Democratic. The Republicans want a new newspaper and want to raise money for it - then it's a Republican paper. If people are asking me to start a new newspaper, and they're asking The Piedmont Shopper to do something and the Star Tribune, and the Register & Bee is losing advertisers, OBVIOUSLY something isn't working. Stock has dropped to a little over $2 a share....and even major investors are disgusted.

According to Reuters:

Media General Inc shares lost as much as 54 percent of their value last Thursday. The loss came after a disgruntled investor sold stock in the newspaper publisher. October classified advertising revenue fell 38 percent.

Reuters wrote:
"Hedge fund manager Philip Falcone cut Harbinger Capital Partners's stake in Media General to 16.67 percent from more than 18 percent, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Harbinger got directors elected to Media General and the New York Times (NYT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) earlier this year after criticizing the management at both companies on their Internet strategies and for not paying enough attention to non-family shareholders.

Media General, which publishes the Tampa Tribune and Richmond Times-Dispatch, along with other papers, has two classes of shares. The second, stronger class is held by the Bryan family. The Ochs-Sulzberger family holds a separate class of shares that give it control of the New York Times Co.

A spokesman for Harbinger had no immediate comment.

Media General's shares dipped as low as $1.36 from their close of $2.96 on Wednesday. They later recovered to $2.17, still down more than 26 percent."

Don't forget, in March, Harbinger nominated three contenders for the board to oppose those selected by Media General. Harbinger was tired of the "management" decisions (or LACK of management decisions) by the existing board and forced three new board members onto the board in hopes of fixing things before the whole organization went south.

Gee....They laid of 80 employees in Tampa - well, they offered buyouts - and other deals....to the paper that everyone else in Media General terms the "big sucking drain" on other revenues.


StopBigMedia.com smells a rat. The advocacy blog notes that Media General was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the FCC’s decision to lift its 30-year-old ban on media cross-ownership. The layoffs are thus hitting geographies where readers already have little choice in media, meaning that Media General will simply hack away at quality in the name of profitability, the blogger alleges. It appears, though, that the FCC’s decision will be reversed by Congress.

Does Danville need another newspaper? You bet it does. Can the Republicans and conservatives in the area do a better job? We can hope. I don't think they'll tolerate the same sort of behavior that goes on at The Register & Bee. One would hope not. I'm not the only pointing fingers at the way they run things. Google Media General and see for yourself. StopBigMedia.com is all over them all the time.