No, not the content — at least not all of it — the newspaper chain’s credit rating.
The S&P on Friday lowered McClatchy’s corporate bond rating to BB+, official junk status.
Long story short, McClatchy has massive debt, falling revenue, lower profits. Plus, the economy seems to be slowing, if not in the Carolinas, certainly in some spots nationwide. One of the first things to go in a sluggish economy is ad spending.
So — what does that mean locally? I have to believe to McC HQ is gonna to lean heavily on all publishers to be as tight with cash as possible.
To that end, I’d love to know editorial side headcount now compared to three or four years ago.
