Sacramento Bee sales: clueless or duped?

When I pass the Bee newsstand, what I can see of their news determines whether I buy.

See today's Bee hopefully awaiting purchasers. See almost half its above-the-fold real estate obscured by advertising. Expect sales to people like me to drop 40%.

Could it be related to this mid-December observation on Sierra Voices?

...overheard a clerk in a local grocery store talking to a customer who wondered why there was no Sacramento Bee on the newsstand:

"It wasn’t delivered today. Since The Union took over delivery of the Bee, it’s been a problem..."

Food for thought

Newspapers often bullied their way to centrality in a community. They were a kind of Mafia, a kind of protection racket--you don't play nice with me, you don't advertise with me, I mess with you. *

"The press [should be] a watchdog. Not an attack dog. Not a lapdog. A watchdog. Now, a watchdog can't be right all the time. He doesn't bark only when he sees or smells something that's dangerous. A good watchdog barks at things that are suspicious."
-- Dan Rather*