Posted on 01/19/2009 7:27:16 AM PST by abb
Newspapers are for sale across the country. National Public Radio and television news shows are laying off staff. The Tribune Co. (which owns this and other newspapers) is in bankruptcy. It's clear that journalism is in crisis, and in the current recession, things are likely to get much worse.
That's alarming. A robust press is vital to our democracy. And while bloggers and other new-media news operations have enriched the public dialogue in important ways, their work still depends on the painstaking -- and expensive -- reporting supplied by traditional journalists.
Some conclude from the recent dire reports about the news business that people are no longer interested in serious journalism. In fact, more people than ever are consuming news. The Los Angeles Times, for example, still has nearly 750,000 subscribers to its daily print edition -- and it also attracts more than 9 million visitors to its website each month.
What's broken is the economic model.
snip
Since the start of the republic, the government has found creative ways to support the press. Insisting that the far-flung American population needed to be connected and informed, George Washington and James Madison led the effort to pass the Postal Act of 1792, which heavily subsidized postal rates to encourage the dissemination of news throughout the land. In fact, Washington argued for a totally subsidized delivery service, contending that there is "no resource so firm for the government of the United States." Since then, the government has found countless ways to encourage or subsidize journalism, including the Federal Communication Commission's requirement that broadcasters cover the news as a condition of obtaining a license. Today, we need to think anew about how government can ensure that citizens get the information they need and want.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
ping
There, fixed.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-onthemedia18-2009jan18,0,2214604.column
A vacant echo within L.A. County press corps
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2009/01/16/ajc_conservative_columnist.html
The AJC is looking for a new conservative columnist. Could it be you?
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/shared-blogs/ajc/thinkingright/entries/2009/01/19/new_columnist.html
Be a conservative columnist
Yes, “journalism” has been “in crisis” for the last, oh, 40+ years.
Great business opportunity for conservatives......
NEW STOCK MARKET TERMS
CEO —Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO— Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET — A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET — A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
VALUE INVESTING — The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO — The percentage of investors wetting their pants
as the market keeps crashing.
BROKER — What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR — Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST — Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
FINANCIAL PLANNER — A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION — The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW — The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
YAHOO — What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker
for $240 per share.
WINDOWS — What you jump out of when you’re the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR — Past year investor who’s now locked up in a nuthouse.
PROFIT — An archaic word no longer in use
LIQUIDITY — That sensation running down your legs when you get your stock and 401K statements
That’s what I think. Let’s get some conservative in there with money to buy these up at sales prices and make them WORK. It’s a great opportunity. There are plenty of conservatives with LOTS to say. And there will be grist for the mill.
Crap. The big media routinely steals real investigative reporting from weeklies and other alternative media.
My a$$!!!!
The economic model is working just fine.
From Marketing 101: Give the people something they want and/or need and it will sell like hotcakes. Turn out a product people don't want or need and you will go out of business.
The presstitutes and nitworks are finally finding out this principal applies to their business as well as the rest of the economy ... they don't like it one bit ... and they are too stupid and/or set in their ways to adapt.
Wooo-hoooo...someone who sees this as a golden opportunity for both business interests and a way to get good, objective journalism back on track!!
Some collaboration with these people could also be a positive;
http://www.thephillipsfoundation.org/index.php?q=node/11
;-)
The Times gets partial credit for this one. It should actually be an independent press.
What they refuse to admit is that most of the media has chosen sides politically. As such, they are complicit in their own demise.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
A Free Press is a great thing, but what wesee today isnt a Free Press.
It’s a one sided advertisement for liberalism.
People should be presented with the news as close to factual as possible and allowed to Judge for themselves.
We arent getting that and havent been for years.
The presentation of the last election was a travesty. All investigative reporting of Obama was ignored and still we dont have the facts on where he came from or what he did to get where he is.
” A robust press is vital to our democracy.”
It’s clear then that media bias is an attack on our democracy.
Those journalists who engage in bias are undermining our democratic system by failing to be the ‘robust press’ that we need. Do they know of their dereliction of duty?
Interesting what you can conclude once you take the journalists at their word.
The old media is so full of half-truths, a leftist agenda, and outright journalistic fraud, that more people are seeking the truth where it is still of value; that means, the internet and talk radio. Thankfully, the old media monopoly is busted but was still able to help elect another Hussein.
This is not possible. The choice of what facts to present is an editorial function. Facts alone are not seen as having enough value to justify the cost of collecting them.
Sites like Free Republic (both Conservative and, yes, Liberal) are nothing different than Colonial times when papers would be posted in the town square and people gathered to discuss the content. The town square is now global due to the Internet.
The fact that we have to do our own research is due to the failure of the Media to do their jobs. When they make up the news or inject a bias, they corrupt the entire process. “We determine what’s news and what’s not!” (Dan Rather to Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle)
David Carr (b. 1956), US Journalist. CNN "Reliable Sources", Sunday, August 10, 2008.
The LA Times would have had a lot more than 9 million visitors to their web site had they posted that Obama video. But noooo they were not *robust* enough to do that.
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