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Wall Street to Daily Papers: 'Drop Dead'
The Nation ^ | January 24, 2008 | Eric Alterman

Posted on 01/27/2008 12:53:15 PM PST by george76

It's just a coincidence that the essay "Does the News Matter to Anyone Anymore?" by the impresario of The Wire, David Simon, appeared in the Washington Post the same day news broke of the top editor of the Los Angeles Times having been forced out over a refusal to make further budget cuts.

Virtually every major magazine...has eloquently bemoaned the state of contemporary newspapering.

And the departure of James O'Shea from the LA Times marks the fourth time in less than three years that either the top editor or the publisher has "quit" rather than make budget cuts demanded by the owner.

... yet nobody at the Times bothered to come up with some corporate-friendly spin.

It's as if newspaper owners have given up caring to explain themselves. "This is the way of the world," they're telling us. "Get used to it."

But the guys who run these newspapers are focused on one thing only, and that's survival. You might be, too, if you were faced with facts like these:

§ The combined market value of independent, publicly traded US newspaper publishers has fallen by 42 percent in the past three years.

§ The Washington Post Company, with circulation down 14 percent since 2000, now calls itself "an education and media company,"...

§ Spending for print ads in newspapers fell 9 percent last year...

§ Newspapers are receiving a declining share of Internet advertising as well.

(Excerpt) Read more at thenation.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: alterman; itsdeadjim; liberalmedia; media; mediacrity; msm; newspapering; newspapers; oldmedia; thenation
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Sinking readership and revenue, because of biased and mediocre reporting, is finally taking its toll ....

.

1 posted on 01/27/2008 12:53:16 PM PST by george76
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To: Grampa Dave; Milhouse; abb; Liz; kcvl; onyx; SunkenCiv

Falling ad and circulation revenue plus rising paper prices...


2 posted on 01/27/2008 12:57:18 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

When they start actually telling the truth they might sell more papers. It’s too easy to find out through GOOGLE what they are too lazy to check.


3 posted on 01/27/2008 1:00:50 PM PST by kcvl
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To: george76

Wall Street is smarter than I thought.


4 posted on 01/27/2008 1:02:23 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: george76

WSJ is a notable exception


5 posted on 01/27/2008 1:02:35 PM PST by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitor)
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To: kcvl

The media Dixie Chicks marketing plan...


6 posted on 01/27/2008 1:07:10 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

The answer is obvious. A federal bailout. /sarc


7 posted on 01/27/2008 1:08:06 PM PST by abb (The Dinosaur Media: A One-Way Medium in a Two-Way World)
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To: george76; moder_ator

wow, great FReepathon reminder for this topic: the one with the screen capture of Brit Hume, FR, and CBuSted! is it intentional, or random placement?


8 posted on 01/27/2008 1:10:43 PM PST by cyn
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To: abb

McCain-Feingold.


9 posted on 01/27/2008 1:11:13 PM PST by VRWC For Truth (RINO cleaner - the backbone restorer)
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To: george76

10 posted on 01/27/2008 1:11:56 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~~~Jihad Fever -- Catch It !~~~ (Backup tag: "Live Fred or Die"))
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phooey, random ... and disappearing. well, it was in itself a great commentary on this topic.


11 posted on 01/27/2008 1:11:56 PM PST by cyn
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To: abb

I am amazed that parents pay tuition for their college kid to major in jounalism.

They might get a job at Starbucks ?

/s


12 posted on 01/27/2008 1:13:10 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Blueflag
WSJ is a notable exception
WSJ is notable for having a conservative (not counting the borders issue) editorial page/web site.

That does not translate into a conservative news division. Because, IMHO, there is no such thing as "conservative news."

The Market for Conservative-Based News


13 posted on 01/27/2008 1:13:48 PM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (The Democratic Party is only a front for the political establishment in America - Big Journalism.)
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To: george76
"the biggest challenge" facing the industry: "to overcome this pervasive culture of defeat, the psychology of surrender that accepts decline as inevitable." The dude, alas, is dead-on. Newsmen and -women are supposed to go down fighting. As the great Molly Ivins observed not long before we lost her: budget cuts, buyout plans, it's as if the only agreed-upon solution to fight this deadly disease is "to commit suicide."

Yet, there is no recognition by Alterman or any of his journalistic buddies that, as businesses, dead tree newspapers are doomed. By the P&L, by events, by technology.

He berates the publishers for a lack of imagination. Well, where the hell is his?

Inevitably, the journalist-guild sector of the newspaper industry is going to be calling for public ownership, demanding that taxpayers foot the bill for their liberal indulgences.

May they friggin' starve to death.

14 posted on 01/27/2008 1:29:23 PM PST by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance on Parade)
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To: okie01

Well said :

He berates the publishers for a lack of imagination. Well, where the hell is his?


15 posted on 01/27/2008 1:42:53 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76
. . . the war on press freedom the Bush Administration and its allies have been waging since they came to power seven years ago.

One's attitude toward life is critical. Blaming one's problems on mythical forces is not healthy. When most of the individuals in a profession (journalism) think it is or should be above the marketplace, it is probably doomed.

16 posted on 01/27/2008 1:47:24 PM PST by Jacquerie (Convince me that murderous Islam is protected by the 1st Amendment.)
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To: george76
I am amazed that parents pay tuition for their college kid to major in jounalism.
They might get a job at Starbucks ? /s

Funny you say that, because our oldest daughter went that route. She wanted it since middle school, was yearbook editor from sophomore year in high school, and majored in journalism at U.C. Berkeley. (Yeah, we held our nose on that but it's where she wanted to go.)

During college she worked at several Starbucks, became a supervisor. After graduation she became an editor at a local magazine, moving up to a managing editor position. But she did see the light, getting turned off by the politics from her bosses after several years, she quit and is now a technical writer for a bio-tech firm.

Newspapers and magazines are killing themselves, despite bright young journalism kids that try to make a difference.

17 posted on 01/27/2008 4:38:34 PM PST by roadcat
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To: roadcat

It is nice that she could get a job doing something that she enjoys.

Most general newspapers will be walking dead if they remain so one sided.

Small papers may make enough ad money if they focus on local news.

Good of you to support your child’s dream.


18 posted on 01/27/2008 5:36:07 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76; AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...

Thanks g76. The place to make the cuts is in reporters and editors who spin every story into an op-ed and get away with it.


19 posted on 01/28/2008 11:42:59 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__________________Profile updated Wednesday, January 16, 2008)
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To: george76
Sinking readership and revenue, because of biased and mediocre reporting, is finally taking its toll ....

Wishful thinking, but even good, well-written, conservative papers are sinking, too. America is no longer a literate nation..it's time to face it.

20 posted on 01/28/2008 7:16:28 PM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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