We at USDemocrazy are nutzo for the ‘net, but we’ve also talked before about our passion for paper. Thus, we get kinda depressed when we hear of major American newspapers shrinking, shrivelling and shutting down all together.

Ever heard of a little (OK, not little) paper called the Boston Globe? We have learned the venerable Globe came pretty darn close to being shut-down by its parent company, The New York Times Company. Fortunately, we also learned (through newspapers, no less) the close-down crisis may had been averted. 

The New York Times Company, the Globe, and the three major Boston unions worked through the night on Sunday and reach a deal. The Globe stated:

This includes agreements with the drivers, mailers, pressmen, the electricians, machinists, and technical services group. As a result of these agreements, which are subject to ratification by union members, we expect to achieve both the workplace flexibility and the financial savings that we sought from these unions.

It appeared maybe a modern metropolitan media meltdown may have been missed! BUT NO!

One of the unions, the Boston Newspaper Guild, has stopped… and then resumed negotiations with the paper over lifetime job guarantees for 200 of its employees. (The Globe reportedly offered to cut Guild wages by 23%.)

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE! There’s MORE!

Some Washington big-wigs are coming to the Globe’s rescue! Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, insist that the biggest newspaper in their state should not be left to die. John Kerry declares newspapers are vital to our free democracy.  (We tend to agree.)

This all comes amid the announcement of Amazon’s newest version of the Kindle, which is rumoured to have a larger screen and facilitated for reading news “papers.” We’re keeping our eyes on the news of the newest Kindle, which we’re wondering will make news “papers” obsolete entirely…