IS IT TRUE JUNE 7, 2017

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IS IT TRUE because we experienced some technical problems concerning the launching of our newly resigned paper we decided to repeat yesterdays IS IT TRUE column? …thanks for your support and reading the new City County Observer newspaper?

IS IT TRUE that it is no secret that the newspaper industry has been falling on hard times for at least a decade?…from the New York Times to every daily news based paper in the country the struggle to survive has meant cuts to staff and the associated lowering the bar when it comes to quality?…it seems as though any small to medium sized daily paper that once captured a reader’s attention for a half hour a day is now only capable of keeping one’s attention for less than 5 minutes?…the Evansville Courier and Press is no exception to what is happening to newspapers all over the country?…a court ruling regarding the taxable value of a piece of expensive equipment was published yesterday by the IndianaaLawyer.com and it included some interesting facts entered into the public record about the financial health of the Courier and Press?…the City County Observer publishes the following without bias or editing and in many ways feels remorse for the challenges facing print media of all types?  …attached below is the recap of the court ruling for your review: Evansville Courier Company, Inc. v. Vanderburgh County Assessor?

IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Courier and Press has lost approximately 60% of its circulation since the 1990s according to the official court document?…during the 7 year period from 2004 to 2011 the Courier and Press saw both daily and Sunday circulation decline by nearly 20%?…in 2011 the daily circulation of the Courier had fallen to under 40,000 and the Sunday circulation to 57,111?…this is in a market that has approximately 350,000 people?…if national trends have been followed those numbers are likely to be down by another 15% to 20% today?…In 2004 the Courier and Press employed over 500 people and today that number is closer to 200 and shrinking?…it actually states in the court document signed by Judge John J. Baker that “the Courier and Press anticipates that within 10 years they will not be publishing a printed paper?  …some of the reasons for the declines given by the Courier and Press in the legal document are competition for ads with Craigslist which is a free online sales portal, competition for news against Facebook, Twitter, and online publications?…the City County Observer was not mentioned?

IS IT TRUE the legal dust up is all about a flexographic printer that was bought by the Courier and Press in 1989 as a state of the art printing press that would last for many years?…when the printing press became obsolete to the point that spare parts were not even available the Courier management petitioned the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s Office to decrease the value of the obsolete equipment for taxation purposes?…the amount in question is on the order of $3 Million so the taxes on such a thing per year are significant?…the courts have decided that a write down of value on the basis of abnormal obsolescence is not approved leaving the Courier and Press on the hook to pay taxes on a printing press that they can’t find parts for or even repair?…this is the sort of thing that makes practical human beings look upon government actions as out of touch with reality?…continuing to tax this worthless asset even after being shown an appraisal is a prime example of government making war on business?…the day will come that there will be no daily written paper in the City of Evansville and the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s Office will bear partial responsibility for taxing a struggling business to death?

IS IT TRUE this is truly a case of oppression of a free press through irrational and indefensible taxation?…these taxes are a real world example of SNEGAL running wild?  …since the Courier and Press sub-contracts the printing of their paper in Louisville, Ky the obvious solution for the owners of this printing press is to move it somewhere that doesn’t do this and let it rust to the ground?…the City County Observer states a position of support for a free and honest press that does not fear the lash of taxation putting it out of business?…today the CCO is a brother publication that has felt the lash of oppression ourselves for publishing the brutal truth about the shenanigans the local power brokers pull on the taxpayers of Evansville?  …we pledge to continue to strive for truth and honestly in government and shall continue to force our elected officials to practice “good public policy”?

IS IT TRUE we are being told by friends from the main stream media if the once mighty Courier and Press don’t pay strict attention to the business at hand they may become a fledgling blog?  …the City County Observer has been there and done that?

Today “Readers Poll” question is:  Are you oppose to the irrational and indefensible taxation by the Vanderburgh County Tax Assessor?

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12 COMMENTS

  1. While the investigative reporting of the CCO has surely negatively impacted the Courier & Press, the Courier & Press has become unreadable with their left wing Editorial Board of Rachel Maddow anti-Trump wannabes. Jon Webb articles are socialist gibberish, the McLoed “cartoons” are consistently anti-American and the Etheridge editorials are suitable for the IU Bloomington student newspaper. The only reason get the Courier & Press is for the high school sports reporting and the obituaries. Now they sometimes publish the same article twice in the same paper.

        • The C&P’s challenges:
          1. Are common to all print newspapers. It has ZERO to do w/ the CCO. Print newspapers, big box retail stores, and big coal….all have challenges in the new economy.
          2. The CCO fills a niche the C&P isn’t trying to fill.
          3. JoeBiden, while you’re at it, let off some steam about your in-laws, the car dealer who scammed you, and how Reitz got screwed by the refs to many times last season. None of those things are related to the C&P’s shrinking in size either. Just as your rants about Trump’s problems (which are more with real conservatives than liberals) don’t have a damn thing to do with the C&P either.

          • OneEV, I stand by my comments. The quality of the paper has greatly deteriorated while also becoming a far left left leaning cheerleader. We’ll see if others agree.

          • Are there other options? Sure. I for one drop my C/P subscription years ago because of their bias. They bought a poll from IU which did not favor Hostettler, imagine that from IU, the reported on the poll for several weeks. I did purchase an online subscription, but have dropped that after in part reading Webb’s dizzying op-eds.

            So I give you that they are falling to market changes, but are not doing anything other than cutting off body parts to escape the rock and hard place in which they are ensconced.

        • right on……………right on……….. Joe my fellow deplorable…………….the msm is all in trying to destroy our duly elected President Trump………….they will fail just as President Trump destroyed barry and harry in the election he will do so and is doing so to the anti America msm……….Middle America Has Spoke…………

          • Hey Al:
            …you said, “the msm is all in trying to destroy our duly elected President Trump.”

            I think you have them confused with an orange haired reality TV star who lives (well, some of the time) in the White House.

            The Presidency is in shambles. It is disintegrating.

            HEY AL….the GOP isn’t gonna let the reality-TV star destroy the country. They are gonna take him out. (The Dems and Libs want to keep him, and reap the rewards.)

            Where you gonna go after that happens? Wait….WE ALL KNOW.
            You and Pressanykey and JoeBiden are gonna blame everyone but yourself…and WE are gonna watch you guys all go the “Sovereign Citizen” route. That’s it. You’all are all going sovereign citizen.

  2. The practice of taxing business property annually is a repellant to attracting or retaining companies. For the tax collector to insist on taxing a totally obsolete asset is tantamount to theft by deception.

  3. Agree, Joe Biden. And AverageJoe, they say the late sports scores are because it is now printed in Louisville, meaning earlier press time.

    The Courier-Press bears a lot of responsibility for lower circulation. I’ve been a daily newspaper reader for 30+ years, but when we moved recently, the CP messed up our new location, then got it right, then stopped delivering all together. I cancelled my subscription, they tried to make me pay $30, then relented. I copied Mr. Ethridge on my last two emails to the circulation department, and he promised to look into it. That was 3 weeks ago.

    And don’t get me started on the grammar and typos…

  4. After consolidation of the Press, the Courier, and the Sunday C&P into one entity, the “new” C&P forced their long time staffers,to take early retirement. “Take it now or you won’t have job In 6 months.” They were replaced with lowly paid interns and no Copy Editors. The “reporters” who remain are hacks and the Editor is a sports jockey whose claim to fame is he knew where the free buffet and bar was located in the press box at MLB stadiums. You knew it was going downhill when they employed as a “stringer” the wife of a sports editor to write articles but all she could do was write pimp pieces about her son, the “big time actor from Newburgh”. At one time you had to get to the office 45 minutes before your work start time to find a parking spot. Not the case any more.

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