`Not your father's Oldsmobile' (George Will)

Townhall.com ^ | April 24, 2005 | George Will

[The Great Yazoo]

WASHINGTON -- If you awake before dawn you probably hear a daily sound that may become as anachronistic as the clatter of horses' hooves on urban cobblestones. The sound is the slap of the morning paper on the sidewalk.

65 and older 60 pct. 50-64 52 pct. 30-49 39 pct. 18-29 23 pct.

[WL-law]

During Clinton's tenure, bonified witnesses were shreded.

Bonified AND shreded?? Ouch, that had to hurt BAD!!

[M Kehoe]

I buy the Sunday edition of our local fish wrap once a month. I use it for many things, none of which is reading.

5.56mm

[The Great Yazoo]

NYT and WP and CBS had it out for Nixon, but not for Clinton. Simple as that!

[Rembrandt_fan]

It would never occur to Cronkite to rethink his performance and attitudes during the Vietnam War--the Tet offensive particularly--much less admit wrongdoing even if he did come to that realization. Dan Rather and others are in the same boat. To say they were wrong on any one thing might lead them to rigorous self-examination of all of their positions. Can't have that.

I don't think liberal media bias is a conscious conspiracy directed by faceless elites (for the most part, anyway). I think it is a widespread, unspoken consensus, a matter of like-minded people confined within the same professional sphere, unopposed by alternative viewpoints. Lack of dissent tends to reinforce and narrow the collective worldview among that particular group--in this case, mass-media journalists. To these people, propaganda is truth.

[Freee-dame]

NYT and WP and CBS had it out for Nixon, but not for Clinton.

Just compare the coverage of President Bush's National Guard service with coverage of Kerry's medal accumulation.

[R. Scott]

Packing material, bird cage liners …

[LouD]

Several Wisconsin state Senators held a series of hearings on the issue of voter identification - which is quite contentious here. One of the hearings was held in my community. Many local people showed up and testified, and most of them testified in favor of requiring voters to produce ID. A rat representative saw fit to attend, and was one of the few people to speak against the proposed measure.

The local leftist newspaper attended and reported on the press conference held by the 'rat rep before the hearing. They interviewed several of the handful of union lefties who showed up from outside the community to speak against the measure. They interviewed one token proponent of the bill, and devoted an entire sentence of the article to his viewpoint.

They did not cover the actual hearing.

Is it any wonder that I don't subscribe to this newspaper? I would like to subscribe, if only for the local content - but cannot bring myself to do so.

[Doohickey]

Why SHOULD I read the paper when I can send JimRob a donation and read it here instead?

[DCPatriot]

The honest-to-god truth why at 59 I don't read newspapers that much anymore?

I've already heard and know the latest news through talk radio and/or FreeRepublic and Drudge.

[Doohickey]

Because those devices play electronic media. How about selling the local paper as e-book for a quarter an issue rather than $1? Or local and national news casts as MP3 for a dime?

[pabianice]

When, after the misreported Tet offensive of 1968 (a U.S. military victory described as a crushing defeat), Cronkite declared Vietnam a ``stalemate,'' he spoke, as Mindich says, to ``a captive audience.'' Nearly 80 percent of television sets in use at the dinner hour were tuned to one of the three network newscasts, and Cronkite had the largest share. I take it as part of Cronkite's damnation that he's lived long enough to witness the ramifications of what his bias helped create.

Nope. The old bastard is today just as cheerful when misreporting what has happened in Vietnam since 1975. He's a hopeless Marxist shill (of course, his devotion to communism has not in any way stopped him from personally enjoying the great wealth his misreporting gave him).

[Atlas Sneezed]

In 1990, I subscribed to the local daily, sometimes to WSJ, and listened to NPR.

Now, I read the most important articles from two local dailies (on the Internet), plus articles and opinion analysis from dozens of papers and columnists around the globe, and observe instant interactive analysis of the articles.

Until recently, I listened to hours of commercial talk radio per day, and occasionally purchased CDs for the "shuffle-play." Now, I listen to MUSIC on XM radio, switching among 5 Jazz stations, and wouldn't dream about buying another CD when XM does all the work in selecting and purchasing such wonderful music.

Beginning with a relocation 3 years ago, we have not had any Cable or Dish, and have used the rabbit ears for only a few hours of TV watching, plus some political conventions and the like. Essentially All of our TV viewing has been watching DVDs, and you can bet we will stop buying those when video streaming is available. (When we get settled in to our current home, we will have cable again.)

dozens

[Jumpmaster]

...just to add my tagline!

[OldPossum]

It would never occur to Cronkite to rethink his performance and attitudes during the Vietnam War...

I don't think that Cronkite is intelligent enough to rethink anything.

[DeFault User]

Baby boomers who became adults in the 1970s consume less journalism than their parents did.

There's damn little journalism to consume. Even what should be simple articles can't or won't give you the "who, what, where, when and how".

Local TV news is even worse. Last week I heard teasers for the 11 o'clock news which included breaking news on a sanitation worker observed urinating in the driveway of an alert crimestopper citizen and a real tear jerker about a dog that was run over. I know that 'if it bleeds, it leads', but it has become laughably absurd.

[EricT.]

Oldsmowhatsits?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

I just don't trust them. I read them, but I don't respect them even a smidge. They're a big fat pack of partisan liars.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I was expecting 'SS Oldsmobile" also!

[okie01]

Helluva post.

Excellent insights.

There's another explanation, though, for why newspapers don't do investigative reporting anymore: it costs money...and publishable results aren't assured.

In an environment where circulation is declining, putting pressure on revenues, the accountants are going to squelch any budget requests for "investigative reporting".

Thus, aside from their crippling bias, newspapers are caught in a cost-cutting spiral -- they can't invest in improving their editorial product.

[republicandiva]

Our local County Executive and County Board are trying to change the laws that require full disclosure in "print" media of complete minutes from county board meetings, hearings, etc. Instead, a brief summary would be in the local newspaper, the majority of info would be available online through their website. The savings to the county - approximately $80,000 annually and a swift kick in the rear to our leftist, liberal rag! The question is how many people who ordinarily "glance" at the minutes of the proceedings in print (in microscopic font, BTW) will now seek out the online version?

BTW, my first "new" car was a 1975 newly engineered 6-cylinder Olds Omega - shipped from the factory in Van Nuys in Robin's egg blue, white vinyl roof and white leather interior (no comments, it was a girl's car) - one of the best cars I ever owned!