Reader’s Digest filing for bankruptcy protection

Source: MSNBC

NEW YORK - The publisher of Reader's Digest, America's most popular general interest magazine, said Monday it will seek bankruptcy protection from creditors amid declining circulation, an advertising slump and large debts.

Reader's Digest Association Inc. said it has reached an agreement with a majority of secured lenders to restructure its debt. Under the plan, the lenders get ownership of the company and will erase much of the $1.6 billion they have in senior secured notes.

The monthly magazine, founded in 1922 as a collection of condensed articles from other publications, has been searching for a niche as the Internet upends the magazine industry's traditional business models.

This year, it cut the circulation guarantee it makes to advertisers to 5.5 million, from 8 million and lowered its frequency to 10 annual issues from 12.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32448734/ns/business-media_biz/

I can't remember why that is, but it has something to do with conservatives being at the helm.

Poophurt Turdoch ...

And yes, their have been nothing but a Republican Party organ for a looong time.

and it becomes "Red's Digest" ...

Thank you Colonel Flagg ...

So to speak.

:shrug:

It really is. I have real several of their condensed books, and honestly wish that some authors would submit their books to Readers Digest PRIOR to publishing, so that the editor can pull all the self indulgent crap out of it.

Take "The Everglades; River Of Grass". It could be condensed to about a hundred pages at most.

and use them as a backstop when shooting, that way, I can recover my lead. It's the only good use I've found for that right-wing rag.

at little condensed tears....

and more Christian, to appeal to a more foused niche of readers.

kind of like adding a cute new kid to a sitcom. When that happens, you know its near the end.

The fear pieces really started to spike in it a decade or so ago, lots of "how to spy on your children" stuff, lots and lots of FUD about anything technological and popular, stuff along those linse.

It's a pity; I found it really interesting when I was a kid.

and it was reader's digest's condensed version that first got me interested in "Roots".

i haven't picked up an issue in many many years, however.

It's been that way for decades.

Just within the past year.

Print it on paper made from old growth forests?

Ink made from the blood of baby seals?

What?

So, I find this financial trouble delightful.

and source for most of his folksy apocryphal anecdotes.

Their jokes are so boring

Their jokes are so cool!

...as well as the condensed novels. There wasn't much else to do at my grandparents' house the summers I spent there. The next door neighbors invited us to swim in their pool, which was nice. The TV, with 5 or 6 channels did not always have fare that was appealing to pre-teens.

But my grandparents had a ton of these books, with a variety of shortened versions of best sellers. I think reading these helped keep my interest in books alive.

Their jokes are so boring

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripplewood_Holdings

I think that it is just the US subsidiary that is declaring bankruptcy.

-- excerpts of interesting articles from other publications -- but they just never did it right. In my opinion, anyway. Utne Reader did the same thing but got a little too new agey for me.

Readers Pre-digested.

;-)

NEW YORK - Reader's Digest, thanking Jesus, retires.

Those who actually subscribed ended up being hounded by Readers Digest books and whatever else they were into at the moment. They called constantly. In general made a pest of themselves and made some refuse to buy it unless they were at a store, which they often forgot to do when they did.They never changed even though their readers did.

Every issue is the same.

a heroism story where jaysus gets mentioned

a tear-jerker "remember my dad" story where the dad is a fascist

incoherent jokes

info-articles for quack cures

let's be all afraid of the latest whatever

life back in Raygun's time (or the early 50's) was oh so much better than now

of a truly crappy periodical. I wish they would just go away forever. Most of what they print is so sappy. No wonder only 80-year olds like it.

my best buddy dog or my wonder cat who dies.

Honest, those damn things come every week or 2. I got a feeling even after I die they will still dump them where my ashes are in the ocean!

and subscribed for years. she loved the crossword puzzle. used to find them in the dentist's office, but now it's people mag.

it's time is done.

in the '40s and '50s it was fed content by the CIA. It was known for its pro-Vietnam editorials, and Nixon speeches were found in its pages under the byline of "The Editors"

http://archive.salon.com/sneaks/sneakpeeks961113.html

Could usually finish most articles during one dump, or if not, mark the page with folded TP and finish it next time. Now that I'm older, I recall some info I'd read in the "I Am Joe's Prostate" article, as it is now relevant.

Ah, memories.

to a Right-Wing Dumbed-Down RAG. . .

According to the AP story, they're cutting back to ten issues a year.

Reader's Digest has always been a right wing publication,
but it was also an advocate of middlebrow sensibilities.
Middlebrow was certainly mild, safe, etc...and warranted much of the criticism lobbed its way, but it did signify a desire
for cultural "self improvement"
Now, its intended audience revel in being knuckle-dragging apes.
Contrast Dick and Pat Nixon enjoying an evening of light pops oechestral performances
with Sarah and Todd Palin gleefully killing wolves in a meth-fueled frenzy.

:P

;)

(Remember all those "I am Joe's Liver" stories?)