Debra J. Saunders: Who killed the newspaper?

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/3/9 | Debra J. Saunders

[SmithL]

After the Rocky Mountain News closed on Friday, local congressman Jared Polis (a Democrat) told a gathering of netrootsers, "I have to say, that when we say, 'Who killed the Rocky Mountain News?' we are all part of that, we truly are. For better or worse, and I argue that it's mostly for better," the Denver Post reported.

Woohoo.

And: "The media is dead, and long live the new media, which is all of us." Who killed the newspaper? This time it was the left, according to the left.

No surprise, Polis apologized on Tuesday.

[SmithL]

fyi

[dr_who]

Newspaper publishers, of course.

[screaminsunshine]

Where is Jimmy Olsen when you need him?

[abb]

But we here at FRee Republic that belong to the Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™ ping list are NOT apologizing. We’re still celebrating!!

[GeronL]

when they became leftist lapdogs instead of watchdogs.... they want to hump O’s leg instead of asking a serious question.

[babygene]

I think it was suicide,,,

[AreaMan]

Nobody killed them, they committed suicide.

They did this by being so biased as to make themselves virtually unreadable and by not doing their job as the fourth estate.

They didn't cover the issues people wanted to know about.

[BigFinn]

I say look at the bright side... they’re saving of thousands of trees everyday.

[Tamar1973]

Nobody killed them, they committed suicide. They did this by being so biased as to make themselves virtually unreadable and by not doing their job as the fourth estate.

BINGO!

[x]

I think this was posted before.

It does read different once you know who Jared Polis is (and why everyone hates him) though.

[softwarecreator]

I can only speak about my reasons for refusal to purchase a paper:

I used to read USA Today everyday during lunch, for several years, until I realized that the total amount of articles about Abu Ghraib had surpassed the total amount they had posted about 9/11. I quit that day and have never purchased a copy since or gone to their website.

In my opinion they pushed me away ... not vise-versa.

[DManA]

I will take it that he apologized to me for saying EVERYONE killed the newspaper - which is offensively stupid.

[colorado tanker]

Polis is ignorant and egotistical. Bloggers, especially not his ilk, did nothing to the Rocky. If you want to blame anything on the Internet, blame E-Bay and Craigslist for taking away most of the lucrative classified ads, or blame the Rocky itself for giving itself away for free on the Web, as so many newspapers have felt compelled to do.

[NonValueAdded]

“Better Red than Read” was a failed approach from the start. And Video killed the Radio Star.

[oyez]

With the media, the customer is always wrong. Its common knowledge that about 85% of newspaper subscribers cancel because they no longer find anything that agrees with their particular viewpoint.

The editors get plenty of feedback but they never relent on having a 100% liberal publication. I suppose they intend to go out of business first.

To me, that is why a liberal mindset is a loosing mindset. And they say conservatives are intolerant.

[La Lydia]

"I did not mean to offend nor to show anything less than a strong sense of remorse for the loss of the Rocky.

So, in addition to being a nasty piece of work, he is a liar too.

[La Lydia]

Actually, of the two Denver papers, the Rocky was the most reasonable.

[tubebender]

With a Marxist in the White House and the end of the print pimps of Denver, Herb Caen must be beating Harry Bridges over the head with a empty bottle Chevis or what ever the hell he liked to brag about...

[atomic_dog]

We like to think the newspapers troubles arose because they are so leftist but it’s a little bit more complicated than that. I believe their problems began when they decided to “professionalize” journalism and created Journalism schools and forgot that many of the great American newspapermen never even finished high school.

Since they are decidedly leftist and tend to disrespect business they also overlook the fact that they are first and foremost a business. It’s simple, the job of a newspaper is to sell column inches of advertising. It’s like Rush, he understands that his job is to keep the listener tuned in between commercials. He jokes about it but he understands it. Most newspaper people don’t know a thing about business and how to drum it up and expand it. You want to buy advertising? Send us camera ready copy and a check. They got lazy cashing checks from national buyers and ad agencies and thought the gravy train would never end.

I have been using newspaper ads for small businesses since the early 90’s and they can care less about how their customers are doing. I guess I owe them a debt of gratitude because they are indirectly responsible for me becoming radicalized. I was tired of not getting any bang for my buck from newspapers so at the instigation of a friend I called KSFO in San Francisco. They had the head of the sales department in my store the next day. As I recall he was also the traffic dude. Anyway, I bought some ads and tuned into to hear them and they had this new guy they’d just put on named Micheal Savage and .....

I like to think that if I had several million sitting around I could buy one of these papers and run it as a business instead of a “vocation” and make good money doing it.