STAFF EDIT: Globe, not shrugged

Media fans rejoiced Wednesday evening when The New York Times announced that it would not be selling The Boston Globe, after months of tenuous deliberation. This decision came after The Globe managed to prove itself stable enough, following the adherence to a strategic plan set forth by the Times to encourage financial restructuring. Though The Globe managed to pull itself together, it only did so after enduring massive sacrifices like pay and benefit cuts for its reporters. This development is simultaneously inspiring and disappointing for the public, which is wondering what costs the survival of journalism will demand from its reporters and editors.

It’s comforting to know The Globe is here to stay ‘- and all of the headlines triumphantly proclaiming that Wednesday were like breaths of fresh air for skeptics and hardcore readers alike, who see such developments as signs that the print journalism and economic crises may be gradually healing. But with Globe staff being slapped with significant pay cuts, those glimmers of hope quickly fade. These kinds of immense sacrifices will only go so far ‘- what happens when reporters and editors can no longer afford to place proving themselves and their craft to the higher-ups as priority over survival and self-respect?

And it’s important to note that just because The Globe is safe for the time being, the fight to save the printed word isn’t over. A real exodus from the print media crisis will take a more viable revision to the newspaper business model than just pay cuts, and above that, more esteem from readers. Skeptics and umbrella media industries like The Times should consider how close they came to a Globe-less world, what that world might have looked like and how it would have created a domino-effect toward the demise of many other prominent papers. The disappearance of a mainstay like The Globe is unthinkable ‘- yet it would have been realized if its staff hadn’t made sacrifices for the greater good.

This kind of selflessness should hint at the tenacity journalists have for their trade, and should make clearer the larger problem of the print media crisis. Globe writers are not out of line to ask to be put on the record saying that The Times shouldn’t soon forget what The Globe gave up to save itself, and to request that The Times recognize that beyond just a pat on the back. The Globe staff is now at the epicenter of the print media crisis, under a microscope to see what they’ll do next after their grand gestures bought them more time. Those watching should support them accordingly ‘- it’s the least they can do.