Is Cablevision Destroying ‘Newsday’?

The Long Island Press is accusing the Bethpage, LI-based cable operator Cablevision of "destroying" the newspaper which it purchased in 2008, citing:

• "Contentious" negotiations between management and Newsday’s 1,100-member strong union, the Graphic Communications
  Conference/International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 406, over a ten-percent pay cut, a "longer work week," the "loss of a week's vacation," and other concessions;
• Interference in the newspaper's editorial decisions such as the rumored firing of editor John Mancini and two other top editors over coverage of a sexual harassment suit filed against Cablevision-owned New York Knicks center Eddy Curry;
• The hiring of Tom Suozzi, the former Nassau County Executive, as a consultant to the company's Local Media Group, of which Newsday is a part, at a time when "employees were being pressed for pay cuts and other hefty concessions";
• Cablevision's refusal to run advertisements from competing telecommunications company Verizon which could "help Newsday's bottom line";
• Placing Newsday behind a pay wall to "entice" users to sign up for Optimum Online in order to receive access to the publication; and
• A "less navigable [Web site]" in spite of a $4 million redesign and plans for yet another which "is not involving Newsday’s own, salaried, interactive art team in the process."

LongIslandPress.com

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