The Northside Sun article has been discussed here. I thought I would call and politely express my displeasure. I was very cordial. I spoke with Wyatt Emmerich, owner/publisher, and he was polite and apologetic. He seemed like a good guy who let one slip by. I also spoke with Jimmye Sweat, the editor, who was neither polite nor apologetic. She basically said that MSU fans are uneducated redneck idiots with thin skin. Suck it up.
northside sun article
- Thread starter Buford T. Justice
- Start date
dealng with the NSS regularly and knowing somewhat the personalities there, i completely believe your account of this episode. jimmye isn't really very "customer friendly". its pretty much "17 you and the horse you rode in on. just pay your subscription or advertising bill and shut up".
I didn't realize little publications like this were still in business.
Who buys it? I'm thinking their demographic is ages 65-80.
Who buys it? I'm thinking their demographic is ages 65-80.
I hear Emmerich comes from a Delta family with a long history in the newspaper business. He went to Harvard, and has no dog in the rivalry battles. I'm not surprised he wants none of this. I'm almost certain he thought it was total tongue-in-cheek smack talk, and not intended to be offensive. Sounds like Sweat thought the same thing, but was just saying "get over it" instead of admitting it might have gone too far.
I guess he would think the statement "Ole Miss supporters are racist bastards" is tongue-in-cheek smack talk also.
I had a subscription for awhile, cancelled, and have still been getting it for years. I guess they want to keep those "subscriber" numbers up there for ad purposes.
I came away from my discussion with Mr. Emmerich thinking he was a good guy, and everyone makes a mistake sometimes.
I came away from my conversation with Ms. Sweat thinking that she believes MSU fans are redneck, uneducated, ignorant, hillbilly morons. Rarely have I spoken with anyone as rude as she.
Anyone besides me catching the irony of Buford T Justice complaining about being called a redneck?
Wyatt is a great guy. He is really genuine and a pretty good businessman.
Jimmye is am arrogant Bear *****...
Jimmye is am arrogant Bear *****...
not only are they still in business, they are booming and wyatt is making a boatload of money. he owns several of these local papars around the state. as far as the demo, they've become like local social mags. they do news articles but as weekly's they're not really relevant. but they are full of party photos, charity event photos, school photos etc and laugh if you want but i can tell you they are read by lots of people of most all age groups in their "local" or "neighborhood" areas.
If it was funny and original, that's one thing. However, it's the same **** we've heard for over 100 years. It stopped being fresh about the time the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
I read a article a while back talking about Warren Buffett getting into the newspaper business pretty heavily across the midwest even as the newspaper business goes into the tank. It basically said everything you just did about small local papers making money by covering parties, events, etc.. and the local neighborhoods buying them up.
If you think about it, it makes sense. For instance, Noxubee County folks could probably give 2 ***** about the CL b/c they never get any coverage but some small once a week paper could do great b/c it covers the local clubs, meetings, government, honor rolls, etc...
The small local newspapers are doing fine; it's the large city papers that are having trouble. Even the NY Times circulation is way down, and so is the Washington Post. In Alabama, the 3 largest cities no longer have daily newspapers. In Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile, it's gone mostly electronic and physical papers are published only 3 days a week. Same for New Orleans. The smaller towns, like Decatur and probably others, still have daily publications.
First met Wyatt E. in 1978 in Greenwood...he was just beginning his career there at the G'wood Commonwealth...his family has been in the newspaper business for a long time and he is nothing like the lady referenced in this post...