The American 30-minute-delivery, drive-thru, prime-time sitcom culture isn’t big on recognizing long-term trends but regardless of geography, city size, industry segments, etc. it seems that most local papers followed a familiar path to destruction.
To wit: these cities had thriving businesses with one or two particular companies or industries dominating and lending an identity to the region. Feeder businesses and others reinforced this image and most accepted, even promoted the ‘company town’ mindset even if they didn’t work for the company (or companies).
But through it all most papers criticized, sneered at, and actively undermined capitalism. They did the same with religion, family values, patriotism and any other virtue. They force-fed columnists and wire copy from the NY Times and Washington Post to their readers. Who was Molly Ivins and why did we give a s*** about her lunacy? Why were we seeing ‘analysis’ pieces that were badly disguised op-eds on the front page as news?
And, of course, any and all examples of ‘good government’ were held up as trophies. Schools, road crews, meter maids, etc. If you worked on the public dime you could do no wrong.
This corrosive, we-know-better attitude went on for decades. Some hardy souls would write letters to complain about it. Some readers would encourage the paper’s editors to reconsider their radical views and coverage. These requests were ignored or actively scorned.
In the absence of alternatives, little changed. But then Craigslist devastated the price-gouging classified section with its expensive agate type. The internet came along and we know the rest.
Still, the papers carried on whistling past the graveyard. Some just-occasionally-right-of-center papers brought in hard-left editors, many of whom came from out of town and couldn’t navigate the city with a map and a compass.
They reduced pages under the rubric of environmentalism. They cut back on local sports and began reprinting USA Today and other national idiocy. Most ‘reporting’ was done at a desk with a telephone or a computer. Press releases from every grievance group known to man were printed verbatim as stories.
In sum, they never changed their ways even as they claimed the moral high ground on the way to bankruptcy.
Excellent analysis and commentary.
You should send it to your local paper and see if they print it.
(snort). I do crack myself up at times. I do.
I like your summarization. Everything good about newspapers was destroyed by madcap liberals and the Asspress.