FAROE FRIDAY: TOUGH ALL OVER

Avid readers of this blog will know that things are tough in the broadcast industry. TV and radio stations have been shedding workers at an alarming pace. And now broadcasting woes have hit the Faroes, too.

Faroese State TV and Radio is running a deficit this year and may have to cut staff and programming. There is even talk of eliminating the evening news program. If that happened, there would be no TV news from the Faroe Islands at all. My exclusive source on the islands tells me that the announcement about the news was likely an idle threat to make headlines... but still.

The Faroese government is also in financial trouble. They've got a budget shortfall of about 100 million dollars. While the US spends that much on paper clips in a single month, that's a pretty serious chunk of change in the Faroes. No word yet on how they plan to close the gap.

This week's Faroe photo is of the church in Miðvágur. It was taken on what appears to be a beautiful summer day. At last check it was a bit darker and soggier there today. Perhaps this picture will help bring warm thoughts to the residents of Miðvágur.