I found this intriguing: "IOW, the newspapers of the founding era were pretty much like the local freebie advertising weeklies we see today - which don't do national/international newswire stories because the presumption is that the customer has seen all that on TV, heard it on the radio, or seen it on the Internet just as quickly as the local printer saw it."
I *terminated* the local rag (& you know why) and noticed more than ever before the "paper box" I left up filled with all manner of freebies, 99% advertising.
Interestingly my *2* neighbors continued their subscriptions but they did not receive the blizzard of freebies as was I.
Strange, that.
A close examination revealed something fascinating.
ALL the freebies AND the daily (I terminated) are owned, produced/printed by the *same* entity: Connelly Media.
Imagine that. :o)
Kind of self evident.
Newspapers today --large or small-- are in the SOLE business of selling advertising FIRST and provide "news* secondarily. Whatever "news" a rag's subscriber receives regardless the originating source is without a doubt hand picked information. Isn't that by definition, propaganda?
Nonetheless the rags pay their bills via advertising, not *news* and we know how important circ numbers are to ad rates, eh?
So it begs the question does the daily I had (as well as all others) as a matter of business plan cook their books for the purpose of upping circ numbers using freebie giveaways to that end?
Think of it: The daily I terminated pay for materials & labor to get into my hands what's really the most important product they produce and it's for free.
HA!!
Who'd a thunk it was never about protecting the republic's citizen's right to know as their amendment was meant? {g}
I for one put nothing past the insidious limousine Liberal-Socialists infesting the media when it comes to *profit*, and that's the only reason I've related my experience to you.
BTW I'd not seen the term, "Big Journalism", used before reading your well researched, written piece.
I LOVE IT!!!
Sorry my friend, but *I'm* stealing it.
...for my own!! ;^)
I do have hope for the future though. I’m finding more and more articles previously posted in Free Republic picked up in the Journal Sentinel, the following day! Dare I hope Big Journalism is taking its queue from the very citizens it deigns to serve? Could it be the tail is wagging the dog?
Nah, just wishful thinking again; seeing what I want to see. I've been warned (rightly so) about this once already today . . .
You might not have seen it before; I never saw it anywhere but in my own writing either. But you certainly are welcome to be the first to pick it up. Go for it, and welcome!