"There was a land of Publishers and Editors called the Newspaper Business... Here in this pretty world Journalism took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Reporters and their Enablers, of Anonymous Sources and of Stringers... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization Gone With the Wind..."
With apologies to Margaret Mitchell...
Cancel your subscriptions. Make it a real challenge.
Trust me, Downie's giving up on maintaining...never mind increasing....the newspaper's profits and its viability as a business unit.
Washingtonpost.com will NOT be a substitute. And, he knows it.
So do his "reporters".
For the first time in a week, I am smiling ;-)
Translation: Our liberal audience in Washington DC, suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia expects us to keep hammering away at Republican office seekers, GOP incumbents, and conservative issues, and to leverage all sources of classified information provided to us by Democrat insiders.
One of their stated goals is to raise their website traffic.
Let's not help them, 'kay?
I always love it when it takes two writers to write one story about some newspaper making staff cuts.
I would be willing to bet that if you ask any "journalist" what the real purpose of a newspaper is, they could not tell you.
I will give them a hint, it is to sell advertising, so it can earn a profit.
At one time it was possible for a newspaper to have a bias, since there were usually at least two newspapers in every city or town, and in the major cities many more then just two. A bias did not hurt, it in fact helped as it made sure you got a loyal readership (of those that share their bias.
The downfall of the print media is that they did not adapt to change. Newspapers took a big hit when television became the media of choice for many advertisers. The golden age of newspapers was in the 1940s. They have been in decline every since.
One of the things that has happened is that a few major corporations began buying up newspapers. This by itself would not be a bad thing for either them or the consumers, except the editorial views (and bias) began to be the same. The consumers were not given a choice. A smarter move would have been to let each newspaper find its own view (bias), perhaps even allowing a conservative voice to be heard.
Rush Limbaugh owes his success to the narrow view newspapers (and others in the main stream media) have that only their view is valid.
Newspaper reading is a habit as much as anything. I continued receiving a daily paper long after I realized that I was not being informed by educated. It was only once I found that the papers were beginning to just sit there unopened and unread that I cancelled. It has been over twenty-five years since I have been a subscriber to a daily paper. It was a habit, I broke that habit, and doubt if I would ever go back.
I am on the front edge of baby boomers. We at least had a reading habit, the Gen-xers less so. So where do these journalist figure new readership will come from?
That is their problem. Those that already agree with their bias view of the world, already subscribe. Changing the format, changing to longer stories, changing to shorter stories will have no effect. I can not believe educated people can be so blind. But that is what happens when you are in a cult, and for liberals, that is what it is. They are true believers, and can not, will not, question the things they take on faith.
Big government is good.
We are not taxed enough.
Abortion is the only choice.
Republicans are evil.
Democrats are Saints
Immigration is good for the nation, legal or otherwise.
Big business is bad.
Global Warming is true.
The ACLU is never wrong.
NOW is never wrong.
All social programs are good.
Income transfer is good.
America is evil, the UN is good.
You see, I do not need to read a newspaper to know what the story will be. Regardless of the issue, it will be slanted to make the left good, the right bad.
But they have forgotten what their job is, to encourage viewers to see the advertising, nothing else. Not to be an advocate, not to inform the people on what they think we should know, not to take sides. They have managed to alienate a good portion of their potential readership, and think by changing the style it will bring them back. It won't.
Good bye printed media, RIP.