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MSM's Downsizing Bloodbath May Give Alternative Media a Boost
Modern Conservative ^ | June 25, 2008

Posted on 06/25/2008 8:48:28 AM PDT by thinkingIsPresuppositional

MSM's Downsizing Bloodbath May Give Alternative Media a Boost

Downsizing Bloodbath

What the newspaper industry's unprecedented wave of layoffs says about American journalism -- and what it means for newspaper readers and bloggers


By DAVID PAULIN


The downsizing bloodbath in America's newspaper industry is different from earlier waves of layoffs over the years. This time top editors and reporters are being let go at the most prestigious newspapers. What does all this say about American journalism? And what will it mean for newspaper readers and bloggers?

First, consider the financially troubled New York Times. Layoffs are being threatened there -- something once unimaginable at the liberal Gray Lady. Many veteran reporters in recent months have accepted buyouts. They're people in their 50s and early 60s: well-known reporters such as John Noble Wilford, Linda Greenhouse, Jane Gross, and Lawrence K. Altman, to name a few. In professions such as medicine and law, such people would be at the top of their game.

But that's not the case in newspaper journalism, and that's ironic.

Many MSM news executives claim to want well educated and able people in the newsroom – but not, it appears, any who are too able or well-educated. That was underscored by an article in the American Journalism Review in January, 1995, “Fellowship Folly.” James V. Risser, a two-time Pulitzer winner, complained of mid-career journalists who took prestigious fellowships – only to find that their post-graduate educational experience was “too often” not appreciated -- or not even utilized...


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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: downsizing; layoffs; liberalmedia; msm; newmedia; newspaper; newyorktimes

1 posted on 06/25/2008 8:48:30 AM PDT by thinkingIsPresuppositional
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To: thinkingIsPresuppositional
MSM's Downsizing Bloodbath May Give Alternative Media a Boost

LOL!

I think the cause and the effect are mixed up here.

2 posted on 06/25/2008 8:53:00 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: thinkingIsPresuppositional

Parakeet cage liner.


3 posted on 06/25/2008 8:53:04 AM PDT by Eurale
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To: thinkingIsPresuppositional

Sports, food, technology, those are not the areas that are trashing the paper. Those are the areas that keep the paper alive while the editorials, the political writers, and the management are destroying it.


4 posted on 06/25/2008 8:57:06 AM PDT by oldbrowser (It's not an energy crisis, it's a worthless politicians crisis.)
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To: thinkingIsPresuppositional

Besides the obvious left leaning bias, their basic problem is that the tripe which they write is not worth the time it takes to read it.


5 posted on 06/25/2008 8:57:57 AM PDT by Citizen Tom Paine (Swift as the wind; Calmly majestic as a forest; Steady as the mountains.)
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To: thinkingIsPresuppositional

The MSM is the alternative media.


6 posted on 06/25/2008 8:58:22 AM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: Loyal Buckeye

perhaps in one sense, as being the alternative to the truth, but they are the main source of news and information for most people, as unfortunate as that may be.


7 posted on 06/25/2008 9:01:59 AM PDT by thinkingIsPresuppositional
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To: thinkingIsPresuppositional
Journalist with education find only to find that their post-graduate educational experience was “too often” not appreciated -- or not even utilized...

What the Main Stream Media (MSM) wants is flaming activists to save their bleeding hides. The only thing is that the rest of the industry is doing the same and the public has gotten bored of it.

The MSM is going into journalistic debt trying to hold on to these activists. Flaming Journalists such as Kieth Olbermann and Katie Couric cost a lot. But the MSM has not figured out how much their loosing by the loss of integrity within the Industry.

8 posted on 06/25/2008 9:02:26 AM PDT by sr4402
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To: Citizen Tom Paine

Ive always figured it was because of the left leaning bias.


9 posted on 06/25/2008 9:04:31 AM PDT by thinkingIsPresuppositional
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To: Eurale

Good observation, I’ve been under the impression that it was completely useless.


10 posted on 06/25/2008 9:06:47 AM PDT by thinkingIsPresuppositional
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To: thinkingIsPresuppositional

This is an opportunity! Normal people should start up their alternate media. Two needs: National and local. Bring people unbiased news of the USA and the world, and their home towns. Surely American ingenuity can figure out how to do this!


11 posted on 06/25/2008 9:33:22 AM PDT by BooksForTheRight.com (Fight liberal lies with knowledge. Read conservative books and articles.)
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