The future of the struggling Boston Globe was put in doubt today after the writers' guild rejected The Globe's latest and allegedly final contract proposal. Seven votes was the difference (the vote was 277 to 265 which means if seven voters flipflopped, the proposal would have passed).
The parent company (The NY Times Co.) immediately and unilaterally imposed a 23% wage and benefit cut. That will of course be challenged and arbitrated but The Globe says it's either that or shut down.
Link to The Globe's story on The Globe
It seems that blogs plus a few truly national resources may in fact be the last, best hope for investigative media.
At this point, the writers are staring down the barrel of either bankrupting their employer (but hey, as the Chrysler traveshammockery showed them, perhaps they'll end up owning the company - controlling the media seems like a nice option for The Borg, I mean The Administration to go). They cannot strike or else the paper certainly goes belly-up, so a multi-year arbitration process or a negotiated settlement (not likely from The Times standpoint, I suspect) are the most viable options.
This is all kind of sad but fascinating at the same time.
