Since corporate newspaper management won’t listen to their employees about how their compulsive cuts are ravaging the industry, one guy thinks he has the solution: Talk to them in language they’ll understand—in other words, sue them.

From the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer:

A News & Observer subscriber is suing the newspaper for cutting staff and the size of the paper.

Keith Hempstead, a Durham lawyer, filed the suit last month in Wake Superior Court. He says he renewed his subscription in May just before the paper announced on June 16 the layoffs of 70 staff members and cuts in news pages.

The paper, he says, is now not worth what he signed up for and therefore the cuts breached the paper’s contract with him ...

In a phone interview today, Hempstead, 42, said he could cancel his subscription but filed the suit to make a point.

“I wanted to get the newspaper’s attention and the news industry’s attention,“ said Hempstead, who is a former reporter at the Fayetteville Observer, adding that he loves The News & Observer.

“I hate to see what companies that run newspapers are doing to the product,“ Hempstead said. “The idea that taking the most important product and reducing the amount of news and getting rid of staff to me seems pointless to how you should run a newspaper business.“

Hempstead told the N&O that he wants to “keep the paper from reducing news coverage and wants the newspaper industry to revisit its business model.“

But N&O management was too busy joking about the lawsuit to get the message.

“We’ve had some really good papers recently, and they’re worth more than the 36 cents a day that Mr. Hempstead is paying us,“ (executive editor John) Drescher said.

“In fact, he owes me money,“ Drescher continued. “So when he gets a lawyer, he can work with my lawyer and figure out how much he’s going to pay me for the excellent coverage he’s been getting recently.“

I can sense the cooperative spirit from here.