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Another Dead Tree Death Rattle
Hugh Hewitt ^ | Thursday, March 22, 2007 | Dean Barnett

Posted on 03/22/2007 11:50:41 AM PDT by MovementConservative

The Boston Globe just released 24 more employees today, including Pulitzer Prize winner Eileen McNamara. All 24 cuts came from the Newsroom, and the total carnage amounts to 6% of the newsroom staff.

During my time in the new media world, I’ve made several friends in the old media. I don’t have it in me to gloat over the newspaper industry’s death rattles. That said, new technologies come along and push old ones aside. Such is life in a free and vibrant economy. Pravda never had any such concerns. Major daily newspapers are either a dying industry if you’re a pessimist or a rapidly contracting one if you’re a cockeyed optimist. That’s just the way it is.

Additionally, our newspapers suffer from their transparently disingenuous pose of impartiality. Who wants to read a rag that pretends Adam Nagourney is an unbiased observer? What makes this pretense especially baffling is that naked partisanship makes for an easier sell and a stronger product. Who rules the cable airwaves? Fox. What kind of papers have bucked the trend? The New York Post. And even on the left, Keith Olberman draws stronger ratings than the creaking leftwing fossils that populate CNN. (Do fossils creak? Eh – leave me alone. It’s too early in the morning to craft coherent metaphors.)

The publications that survive will be the ones who find a niche. I’ll even provide a hint for any managing editors of major dailies who might be reading – cover local issues with the same eagerness that Al Gore has for an all-you-can-eat buffet.

One other thing - the fetishization of unbiased reporting is a historic anomaly. Ernie Pyle wasn’t unbiased. Neither was the New York Times for most of its existence. Unlike today. Giggle. Writing that unapologetically takes a stand has always been a lot more bracing than the day-old dishwater that currently drenches a modern daily. (Metaphors getting better!)

Meanwhile, from the bridge of the sinking ship, fresh from just having shifted the deckchairs once again, Globe managing editor Marty Baron pronounces, “When these job reductions are completed, the Globe will continue the ambitious journalism that brings so many readers to our newspaper and website every day."

Good to know.

Compliments? Complaints? Contact me at Soxblog@aol.com.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 03/22/2007 11:50:43 AM PDT by MovementConservative
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To: MovementConservative

Oh pleeeze God, don't let one of them be Derrick Z. Jackson!


2 posted on 03/22/2007 11:53:45 AM PDT by HenpeckedCon (Can I please freep just a little while longer Dear?)
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To: MovementConservative
When these job reductions are completed, the Globe will continue the ambitious journalism that brings so many fewer readers to our newspaper and website every day.

Fixed it.

3 posted on 03/22/2007 11:55:12 AM PDT by InMemoriam
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To: MovementConservative

Haven't bought the Globe in YEARS - every time they call with a great new offer, I tell them, I just can't read their biased reporting.


4 posted on 03/22/2007 12:00:12 PM PDT by KEmom (Please send viable Republican candidates to Massachusetts!!)
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FYI , Boston Globe is a subsidiary of NYT ...


5 posted on 03/22/2007 12:20:52 PM PDT by Neidermeyer
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To: MovementConservative

Wow, they let Eileen McNamara go.

Still not gonna read it.


6 posted on 03/22/2007 12:33:17 PM PDT by MAexile (Bats left, votes right)
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To: Neidermeyer
I used to get a paper for just the comics and the Letters to the Editor. The comics turned into drivel like The Boondocks, and if I want to post a Letter to the Editor, I can do it here and not have the guts of it edited to blandness (if not thrown away.) I can find out about news from the other side of the planet in ten seconds on the internet, and if I want real news I can come here without having a NewsLib give me what he thinks is important. Why the hell would you want to buy day-old news printed in dirty ink on dead trees?

My oneday grandkids will classify paper newspapers along with rotory phone, buggy whips and stone knives. Even the Liberals don't care about them any more.

7 posted on 03/22/2007 12:35:27 PM PDT by 50sDad (Cultural Diversity means never having to say "I don't fit in.")
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To: MovementConservative
Writing that unapologetically takes a stand has always been a lot more bracing than the day-old dishwater that currently drenches a modern daily.

Yep! And I will honestly respect the Old Media the day that each and almost every broadcast station and newspaper comes out and admits, "Yes, we slant the news to the Left, and we are proud of it!" I still won't give it any creedence or believe it in any way, but it would make me atleast impressed to see them admit what they are.

8 posted on 03/22/2007 12:38:02 PM PDT by 50sDad (Cultural Diversity means never having to say "I don't fit in.")
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To: 50sDad

So do you think the editors anywhere are ever going to get the idea that the conservatives don't read their dribble -- and the liberals don't buy anything -- they just pick the used papers up on the train seats when they're getting off at their stops.

At least, that's what they do here in Chicago.

By the time the big editors get it figured out, their papers will be down the tubes. No readers. No advertisers. Simple formula.


9 posted on 03/22/2007 12:40:07 PM PDT by janereinheimer
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To: janereinheimer

The last time I put a NY Times paper in my birdcage, my bird damn near died! Havn't done that since.... :0 )


10 posted on 03/22/2007 12:46:12 PM PDT by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
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To: geezerwheezer
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
11 posted on 03/22/2007 12:59:08 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: KEmom

They don't call me anymore but the last time I got an offer in the mail I was going to send the card back with a terse little note on why I'd never subscribe to their rag. Then I realized that the cheap bastards didn't have return postage on the card.


12 posted on 03/22/2007 1:22:48 PM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
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To: MovementConservative
The Newspaper Guild (a labor union) is running ads on local radio telling people to call the NY Times and ask that the Globe not move its call centers to India. On the Internet some are starting to call the paper The Bangalore Globe. This is going to blow up in their face big time.
13 posted on 03/22/2007 1:46:38 PM PDT by x
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To: martin_fierro

That is a super cartoon! Thanks for sending it.


14 posted on 03/22/2007 4:41:15 PM PDT by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
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To: MovementConservative

The new Globe theme song could be "Death Rattle Shake" from Pantera's last album.


15 posted on 03/23/2007 11:30:04 AM PDT by Disturbin (Welcome to society -- morons with keys)
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To: MovementConservative
And even on the left, Keith Olberman draws stronger ratings than the creaking leftwing fossils that populate CNN.

I seem to recall he's only done that one time ever.

16 posted on 03/23/2007 11:31:34 AM PDT by Dont Mention the War (My voting record: Rudy '89, Rudy '93, Rudy '97, Rudy '08. (Why not piss off BOTH sides?))
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To: MovementConservative
I don’t have it in me to gloat over the newspaper industry’s death rattles.

I do. It's a personal failing. I feel really bad about it.
17 posted on 03/23/2007 11:42:07 AM PDT by George W. Bush
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To: MovementConservative
I don’t have it in me to gloat over the newspaper industry’s death rattles.

I have that and then some. As far as I'm concerned, the newspaper industry can't die qucikly enough.

18 posted on 03/23/2007 12:00:28 PM PDT by CFC__VRWC (Go Gators! NCAA Football and Basketball Champions!)
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To: MovementConservative
I’ll even provide a hint for any managing editors of major dailies who might be reading – cover local issues with the same eagerness that Al Gore has for an all-you-can-eat buffet.

This is just what I told the retired editor of the Dayton Daily News last week. I can read the AP wire on the Internet. I don't need his paper to filter it for me. What I can't read on the Internet is the crash on I-75, the fire on the west side, the new commander at Wright-Patterson. That's what I need for the Daily News.

19 posted on 03/23/2007 3:36:32 PM PDT by JoeFromSidney
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To: MovementConservative
...the fetishization of unbiased reporting is a historic anomaly.
20 posted on 03/23/2007 11:35:29 PM PDT by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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