Posted on 02/26/2009 7:58:18 AM PST by SmithL
A couple of years ago, when speaking to a local group, I mentioned that The Chronicle was losing money. A couple in the back of the room rudely applauded. How thrilled those two must have felt when - if - they learned of Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega's announcement Tuesday that the Hearst Corp. will implement "significant" workforce cuts. If the cuts don't pay off, then the Hearst Corp. will "offer the newspaper for sale or close it altogether."
Bloggers and e-mailers are crowing. If The Chronicle is shuttered, they'll be dancing a jig.
Many conservatives feel a warm glow at the possible demise of an institution that they believe to be failing because of liberal bias. On the far left, that same glow will satisfy those who think newspapers are not liberal enough.
As for those who only read their news online, here's a news flash: News stories do not sprout up like Jack's bean stalk on the Internet. To produce news, you need professionals who understand the standards needed to research, report and write on what happened. If newspapers die, reliable information dries up.
Reduced ad revenue and falling newspaper circulation mean that there will be fewer people to cover the same number of stories. In the middle of an economic crisis and President Obama's federal spending bonanza, there will be fewer watchdogs to guard the shop.
So to those of you who argue that the demise of liberal newspapers (The Chronicle in particular) is deserved, I offer a caveat: Be careful what you wish for.
Remember the ugly consequences of San Francisco's sanctuary city policy for juvenile offenders, who were sent abroad instead of to jail? Or Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' failure to tackle crime in Oaktown? Or reports on corporate bonuses for execs at bailed-out banks? Imagine....
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
What reliable information? My first experience with newspaper bias was writing a commentary article for my local rag in high school. I actually had in interest in local news, so I got to meet some "reporters" for the paper, and I was dismayed at their "standards." It bothered me then, and it still bothers me now when a story is written with important facts either left out or completely wrong. And the reporter doesn't really care, as long as he meets his deadline. Not only that, but they are loathe to write any corrections, or to admit they left out or "shaded" important facts that undercut their stories.
Here's an anecdote: There's this big front page news article about a local accident my dad was involved in with a huge front page picture of the wreck. The name of my dad's company is clearly on the side of the truck, as he's the owner and it's his name. The caption reports some other made up name was involved in the accident(no one knows where they got this name from either, since no one with that name lives in this area, as simple phone book search could have revealed). My dad is laid up for weeks as a result of the accident and is incensed that the paper didn't get his name right even though the picture clearly shows his name on the truck. Complaints to the paper get the response that "different people take the pictures and write the captions." The people at the paper are incredibly rude to my dad and suggest it doesn't really matter anyway, but a retraction appears weeks later on the back page in a little blurb no one is ever going to see.
That little story is a summary of every new story I've ever seen in the news. Big hype on a story full of incorrect or made up data, parroted by many other reporters with no fact checking at all, followed by no corrections or little blurbs where no one will ever see it. That's why papers are dying--at least on the internet, false information gets corrected in the story itself, often fairly quickly.
But I strongly disagree with the premise that news will disappear with newspapers--its just going to change form to something else. The truth is that if papers really did their job properly, the 5w's and actually went after real corruption/waste in entrenched bureaucracies, they wouldn't be dying so quickly and could probably sell a lot more papers.
So the first person who figures out how to make money from a blog or actually does some real investigative reporting will be the one who changes the world. Already some newspapers are using blogs as sources for news--something you don't hear much about. I often read the news days or even weeks before I see it on TV or hear about it being in the paper. I can't tell you how many times someone says to me "did you hear about _____" And I'll tell them it happened weeks ago I'll know all the details they just read in the newspaper plus more, since I often know the missing facts or more details then the reporter who wrote the story did.
You just said it all. In my town crime, corruption, congestion, lack of planning, and political ineptitude are excused because all of the above are caused by local Democrat policies. But we can read the latest multicultural platitudes every day. What newspaper? What reporting?
5W? Who in the MSM knows what is going on, when did they ever, where did they ever report it, and why did they stop?
My husband sometimes drives a fellow-employee home from work. While driving, he discusses the news with his friend. His friend will tell him the news, as he knows it, from the paper. My husband will then spend the next twenty minutes filling in the “back story” or simply, the truth, for his friend.
I suspect his friend appreciates the information.
*sigh* Was that crack really necessary?
LOL! Get bent, wench. I think we'll do just fine without you and your buddies.
techcor ~ If newspapers die, one of the biggest proponents of liberalism and hate dies. The sooner the better.
I think SmithL meant politically reliable, in the old soviet sense....
Next semester I get a whole semester on multiculturalism. The journalism schools don't teach anything else. Melvin Mencher’s book teaches advocacy journalism from the first page. That's the text most schools use.
Ironically the communism clown had identified himself with his true ideology. He just wrote a book called “The sayings of Chairman Mel.” I saw it on Amazon.
This one might come in second?
Debra can’t come to the phone, she’s tied up...
“what is a news company’s product? I assert it’s “trust”.”
Isn’t it funny how both the Investment banks and the media are tanking simultaneously?
They both sold the world a steaming pile of ma^&*%
Pretty sure he is alive and still working there.
*doing the math* Nope, no hope of getting her into my family, dammit. Too old for my son, and my daughter's straight.
The problem is we rarely see that in the SF Chron or any other typical liberal newspaper.
I'm stealing that.
Rabies. You forgot rabies...
*ouch* A textbook case of 'damning with faint praise'.
Ugh. Well keep up the fight.
I am sick and tired of hearing and reading this statement, because it isn't true.
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