The Rocky Mountain News, a Denver-based daily founded in 1859 - predating Colorado's admission to the Union in 1876 and even predating its creation as a territory in 1861 - folded yesterday. This has been the biggest blow to journalism since Tuesday!
Seriously, why on earth is this happening? Can we really get all the news we need, as opposed to the news we can use, from cable news channels that offer more opinion shows than solid reporting (honorable exception: Christiane Amanpour)? How many bloggers do actual reporting? I don't - I am here strictly to mouth off on anything that strikes my fancy, and I make no bones about it, so if you came here looking for solid journalism, you came to the wrong place.
The best thing about a newspaper is that, unlike with a news Web site, you don't have to go through the trouble of booting up, getting online, trudging your way through your favorites list to find a site, and then having to scroll a lot to read the damn thing. You buy it for fifty cents, open it up and read it. Plus you have a crossword puzzle to challenge your brain. Nevertheless, the Philadelphia Inquirer is on thin ice, the New York Times is in trouble, New Jersey's Star-Ledger is getting thinner, and San Francisco could be without its own daily newspaper. What's going to happen without real, honest reporting? Who's going to report on corruption? Corporate greed? Joe Biden's gaffes? Michelle Bachmann's violent mood swings?
One good has come out of this decline in print journalism: gossip columnist Liz Smith, who actually thought that reporting on and cheerleading for obnoxious celebrities was more relevant than stories like the Arab-Israeli peace process, lost her job at the New York Post. Unfortunately, the Post, like the cockroach, is here to stay.
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1 comment:
I remember how much I loved newspapers back in the day. I achieved my dream of working in several newsrooms as a journalist. But I don't buy hard copy newspapers anymore. I read them online and I'm OK with that.
Yes, the Internet is a major factor behind the current state of newspapers. But it is also the fault of newspapers for not wanting to change.
Newspapers for too long ignored blogs and sites and looked down on them.
Also I think a significant problem at newspapers has been the lack of diversity in newsrooms and in coverage.
If you ask me, I prefer the competition that online media offers the traditional media.
I was honestly sick of one newspaper towns. More and more newspapers were monopolized. Online media offered the voiceless a voice in many cases and I like that.
Yes, it is sad to see so many newspapers go down, but I also think this is and will provide new opportunities in journalism.
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