Is It Ok If A Newspaper Folds?
EmailIs it ok if some newspapers fold? Is it simply evolution?
It has been a bad week for the broad sheets. The San Francisco Chronicle was told by its owner to make big cuts or else. Same goes for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News filed for bankruptcy. And today, Denver’s Rocky Mountain News printed its last edition.
The developments have added urgency and fuel to a debate over the future of journalism. On one side is the argument that newspapers serve a civic duty of informing the public and keeping those in power in check. It is dangerous to let newspapers fail. The aggregators on line are simply living off of the reporting of the newspapers.
The other side sees this as evolution. Some newspapers will find ways to live on. Others will not. But that doesn’t mean the end of reporting. New ways of reporting are emerging everyday on line at both the local and national level.
No one argues that this is about the public loosing interest in news. In fact, surveys show the opposite appears to be true. But if you’ve canceled a newspaper subscription lately and are still consuming news, perhaps you’ve already weighed in on the debate.
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No change should ever occur. All should be the same for all time.
Posted by: Huh | February 27, 2009, 4:24 pm 4:24 pm
The more newspapers fail the better it is. Less paper to print the limo liberal views of the far left. Besides they are written for 5 -6 graders. There is very little good that they serve. The liberal rags will go by the wayside.
The only problem is what will people do when they all fold and there is no newsprint to line the cages of birds with?
Glad to see them fail, they have been useless for years.
Posted by: platteman | February 27, 2009, 4:29 pm 4:29 pm
What we really need is for all the liberal media sources (most newspapers, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc) to fold. The sooner the better.
Posted by: mad as hell | February 27, 2009, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
As a journalism enthusiast and a citizen, I say that in these trying economic times, it is time for the newspaper industry to focus on localization, taking pride in their websites and putting away polarizing personal opinions on the editorial page. Failure does not have to be an option, it is only an option for those who do not try.
Posted by: Jeremy Lucas | February 27, 2009, 6:26 pm 6:26 pm
“On one side is the argument that newspapers serve a civic duty of informing the public and keeping those in power in check. It is dangerous to let newspapers fail.” – ABC News
Well it may have been dangerous 20 years ago but not today.
Most Newspapers don’t inform the public or keep the powerful in check anymore.
Proof is that we just elected a blank page for president.
It’s as if the newspapers had already failed a few years back and some ghosts kept the presses running.
Posted by: Noz | February 27, 2009, 6:42 pm 6:42 pm
I love to read my morning newspaper. However, during the recent Presidential campaign, the media did not present a fair balance of news in regards to the candidates. I noticed this last January with the way they treated Hillary Clinton. From the New York Times to the Washington Post to NBC and MSNBC, main stream media showed their bias. Obama could do nothing wrong and the rest of the Democratic and Republican candidates were always wrong. The Presidential campaign showed me the bias of these left-leaning publications. As a moderate Democrat, they lost my patronage. There was a time when you could read a paper or watch news reports and you felt the journalist were presenting a fair and balanced report. When journalist lose their integrity, readership and viewers will decrease.
Posted by: mary | February 27, 2009, 6:46 pm 6:46 pm
The newpapers and the TV mass media have all shot themselves in the foot, destroyed the people’s confidence they use to have and after the confidence was gone why read the newspaper. Reports from the war front by troops that were there showed the mass media was biased about their reporting and then when they joined Obama for the love in, that was the last straw. Especially, since Obama says one thing and then does something different. More and more people are beginning to realize Obama in the top slot is a big mistake and they are blaming the mass media. I think they have a good point.
Posted by: jim smith | February 27, 2009, 9:09 pm 9:09 pm
Who are the major owners of the newspapers that are failing? One is Rupert Murdock. Who owns ABC News? Disney.
Most of the comments to this blog posting are the same as the anti-liberal, anti-Obama spam I’ve been getting in daily email messages from the Republican National Committee.
One of the televised Republican platform committee meetings in Minneapolis during the National Convention urged the party to keep the pressure on — the liberal media. How it’s done is an example of an economic squeeze.
Posted by: Dave Carlson | February 28, 2009, 11:15 pm 11:15 pm
Good riddance. When it becomes making the news and yellow journalism instead of impartial reporting then no tears from me. Now if we can just get rid of the rest of the propaganda rags (both liberal and conservative) and television media… Life would be good. I make it a point not to financially support them nor the businesses that advertise with them. Tune them out.
Posted by: Paul | March 1, 2009, 11:19 pm 11:19 pm