A post by Jon Slattery confirmed talk of the continuing problems at my old employers, the Sheffield Star.
Staff are balloting to strike next week over plans to cut yet more staff from an overstretched newsroom.
I left the paper in 2004, and ballots were taking place then. At that time, it was over pay: we avoided strike action.
Nearly seven years and two editors later, it appears that conditions have worsened.
Recent stories about painful cock-ups caused by a new production system (see picture, right) add to the frustration.
Tough times for media
Newspapers are not fun places to be at the moment. The recession accelerated drops in advertising revenue and circulation, with audience fragmentation and flight to online media quickening this decline.
This has caught traditionally conservative newspaper publishers in a perfect storm. And journalists bear the brunt of the problems as they struggle to meet demands of delivering news in an increasing number of formats with fewer resources.
I still believe, however, that there is a profit to be made out of a paper like The Star. And a big role for Sheffield Newspapers and its journalists in the city.
If it came out out of the Johnson Press stable and and did not have to meet parent company shareholder demands, The Star could adapt and thrive.
Newspapers run by people who understand their communities; now that would be localism in action.
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