WNYC (NPR) New York, 5/23:
Read All About It: Free Newspaper Hawkers Go Silent
Standing in front of the Rockefeller Center subway turnstiles during rush hour one morning, Michael Thorpe acknowledges that his job isn't for everybody.
"You gotta be on our feet, you gotta say the promotion, and you gotta be friendly," says the 50-year-old Washington Heights native, an amNY hawker for the last eight years. "If you're not friendly, then people are not gonna take the paper. And that's what really sells our paper."
SNIP
Earlier this year, the MTA announced an agreement with the publishers of amNY and Metro — both free dailies — that prohibits these modern-day "newsies" from working in the subway, and allows the newspapers to place self-service metal racks stands in stations instead.
Silently continue reading here or listen to the rest of the story.
